The Board is remanding the case to obtain additional medical records and provide a VA physician with information about the Veteran's treatment at Medical City Dallas Hospital. The goal is to determine if hepatitis C, which was linked to an in-service blood transfusion, contributed to death. Additionally, it will be determined whether part of the lung removed during service had any impact on health.
The deciding factor: The Board needs additional medical evidence and a VA opinion to properly assess the cause of death and its relation to service-connected conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- cirrhosis, hepatitis C
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 12, 2015
- Citation
- 1501402
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 1501402.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has expanded the scope of the claim for major depression to encompass any mental health disability raised by the record and has remanded six issues for additional development.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's death was not caused by or substantially contributed to by any service-connected disability, and thus denied the claim for service connection for cause of death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has dismissed the appeal for accrued benefits and has remanded the issue of service connection for cause of death, as there was a duty to assist error related to obtaining a medical nexus opinion regarding in-service herbicide agent exposure.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for COPD, PTSD, hepatitis C, TDIU, and temporary total disability evaluation due to a failure to address his timely request for higher-level review of the July 2018 rating decision.
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