The Board has remanded the case for additional development, including obtaining medical records and conducting a VA examination to determine if service-connected back and hearing loss disabilities contributed to the Veteran's death.
The deciding factor: The examiner is asked to assess whether it is at least as likely as not that the service-connected back and/or hearing loss disabilities caused or contributed to the Veteran's death.
- Claimed conditions
- back disability, hearing loss
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 24, 2018
- Citation
- 1804576
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 1804576.
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 remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for a back disability due to a duty to assist error, specifically regarding VA's failure to provide the Veteran with a VA examination prior to the rating decision.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 50 percent rating for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and denied increased ratings for right shoulder impingement syndrome, hearing loss, painful scar, patellofemoral pain syndromes of the knees, and other conditions.
- Dismissed
The appeal for service connection for a left wrist condition was dismissed due to concurrent election of higher-level review. The claims for an initial compensable rating for bilateral pes planus, and for service connection for hearing loss, neck strain, and dermatitis were denied.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for right ankle, left ankle, back disability, and other conditions as there is no evidence of a current disability related to the Veteran's military service.
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