The Board has remanded the case for further development, including scheduling a VA pulmonary examination to assess the veteran's residuals of recurrent pneumothorax and thoracotomy. The veteran is entitled to an increased rating in excess of 10 percent for these conditions.
The deciding factor: The decision was not about service connection but rather about increasing the rating for existing service-connected conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- recurrent pneumothorax, thoracotomy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 7, 2006
- Citation
- 0619810
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,592 · Granted: 19% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0619810.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for a lung disorder, finding that his symptoms began during active service and resolving reasonable doubt in his favor.
- Granted
The Veteran's lung disorder, which includes restrictive lung disease and post-injury conditions such as right mainstem bronchial disruption and pulmonary contusion, status post fractures of the right fifth and sixth ribs, status post thoracotomy, tracheostomy, was aggravated by his service in Iraq. The Board finds that there is no clear and unmistakable evidence that the Veteran's lung disability was not aggravated by service.
- Denied
The Board found no evidence of a nexus between the veteran's current conditions and his military service, including herbicide exposure. Service connection was denied for antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, recurrent pneumothorax, hypertension, and heart disease.
- Denied
The VA denied an increased rating for the veteran's service-connected lung disability, which is currently rated at 10 percent.
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