The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for the cause of death and burial benefits due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the relationship between schizophrenia and the Veteran's death. The AOJ is instructed to obtain additional evidence and arrange for a VA examiner to provide further opinions.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the previous medical opinions were not responsive to the remand directives, specifically failing to address whether schizophrenia was at all related to the Veteran’s death.
- Claimed conditions
- schizophrenia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 25, 2018
- Citation
- 18144446
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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 18144446.
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
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's schizophrenia is rated at 70 percent, indicating significant impairment in work and social functioning.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the claims for an effective date prior to August 18, 2016, for a 100 percent disability rating for schizophrenia and for spousal SMC for aid and attendance. The Veteran's claim was erroneously adjudicated by the AOJ and constitutes a free-standing earlier effective date claim.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found that the Appellant's discharge from service is not a bar to VA compensation benefits, but it was an error in fulfilling VA's duty to assist not to obtain a medical opinion addressing the extent of any psychiatric symptoms during service and their effect on the Appellant's behavior. The matter is therefore remanded for further action.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's past-due benefits from the May 2024 rating decision were not fully paid to him, and the Board has ordered VA to quickly verify and pay any remaining amounts owed.
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