The Veteran seeks service connection for paranoid schizophrenia, which he claims was aggravated by his military service. The Board is remanding the case to obtain a VA opinion on whether it can be concluded as medically undebatable that the preexisting psychiatric disorder was not permanently aggravated in service beyond natural progression.
The deciding factor: The Board must reevaluate its decision ensuring proper application of the appropriate standard for determining if the Veteran's preexisting psychiatric disability was permanently aggravated by military service.
- Claimed conditions
- paranoid schizophrenia
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 18, 2015
- Citation
- 1540310
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 1540310.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal has been dismissed as the appellant, through his representative, withdrew the appeal prior to a decision being made.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for service connection of paranoid schizophrenia is denied. The Board has also remanded the case to obtain a VA examination regarding his current disability rating for paranoid schizophrenia.
- Denied
The Veteran's sole service-connected condition, paranoid schizophrenia, is rated at 100% disabling. The Board denied Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) based on housebound due to the lack of additional service-connected disabilities independently ratable at 60%, and because the Veteran's substantial confinement was not solely attributable to his service-connected disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided that the Veteran's claim for service connection for a psychiatric disorder, to include paranoid schizophrenia and PTSD, must be remanded due to a duty to assist error. The Veteran will need to provide additional information about his in-service stressor and VA records related to Social Security disability benefits.
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