The Veteran's claim for service connection for a respiratory disability, including as due to herbicide exposure, is remanded. The VA examiner needs to provide an addendum opinion addressing the relationship between his current respiratory disabilities and active service.
The deciding factor: The April 2012 VA examination was inadequate for decision-making purposes and did not address the Veteran's claimed respiratory disabilities or their relation to service.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic cough, chronic sinusitis
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 11, 2018
- Citation
- 18109703
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 18109703.
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.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for chronic rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, and chronic fatigue syndrome as there is no evidence of a current disability in the record.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased evaluations for PTSD and a chronic cough are being remanded due to an error in providing notice of the right to a hearing before the RO.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied service connection for chronic sinusitis and remanded the claim for a lumbar spine disability due to insufficient evidence.
- Dismissed
The appeal seeking readjudication of the previously denied claim for PTSD and multiple other conditions is dismissed due to a procedural defect. The Veteran's authorized representative at the time the appeal was submitted did not have the authority to file the appeal.
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