The Board remands the claim for an opinion regarding the etiology of the Veteran's herpes simplex virus encephalitis.
The deciding factor: The previous VA examination did not provide a definitive opinion on the etiology of the condition, and further development is required to address this issue.
- Claimed conditions
- herpes simplex virus encephalitis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- March 18, 2009
- Citation
- 0910134
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,456 · Granted: 23% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0910134.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection for herpes simplex virus encephalitis, to include as secondary to Bell's palsy, is denied. The Board finds that the evidence does not support a finding of direct service connection.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The veteran seeks service connection for herpes simplex virus encephalitis, which he contends is related to his Bell's palsy. The VA examiner could not conclusively rule in or out a diagnosis of herpes simplex virus encephalitis and stated that the medical literature did not provide data estimating the likelihood that a given episode of Bell's palsy is caused by a herpes virus.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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