The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for hypertension, headaches, hepatitis C, and fatigue/malaise due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors. The claims for disabilities of the back, right shoulder, hips, knees, and ankles are inextricably intertwined with the claim for hepatitis C.
The deciding factor: The Board finds that remand is necessary to afford the Veteran VA examinations and obtain opinions on the nature and etiologies of the claims for hypertension, headaches, hepatitis C, and fatigue/malaise to cure the pre-decisional duty to assist error.
- Claimed conditions
- hypertension, headaches, hepatitis C, back disability (claimed as back pain), left ankle disability (claimed as left ankle pain and edema and left ankle arthritis), left hip disability (claimed as hip arthritis), left knee disability (claimed as left knee arthritis), right ankle disability (claimed as right ankle pain and edema and right ankle arthritis), right hip disability (claimed as hip arthritis), right knee disability (claimed as right knee arthritis), right shoulder disability (claimed as shoulder arthritis), fatigue (also claimed as malaise)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 20, 2019
- Citation
- A19000401
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,890 · Granted: 32% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 A19000401.
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.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's headaches are at least as likely as not caused by his service-connected traumatic brain injury, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to incomplete development of records and will provide a supplemental statement of the case if necessary.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection are being remanded due to the need for additional development, including VA examinations.
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