The Veteran's claim for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 is remanded due to the inadequacy of the January 2015 VA examination, and a new examination is needed to determine if the Veteran has an additional disability that is directly related to his May 1970 VA treatment with hydrochloric acid.
The deciding factor: The Board found the January 2015 VA examination inadequate as it did not specifically identify if an additional disability exists as a result of the Veteran's 1970 surgical procedure, including blindness. The examiner also provided speculative opinions regarding negligence and foreseeability.
- Claimed conditions
- left eye blindness
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 15, 2019
- Citation
- A19000904
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,820 · Granted: 26% (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 A19000904.
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 granted service connection for the Veteran's left eye injury, claimed as blindness, finding that it had its onset in service and is related to his military service.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted special monthly compensation based on the need for regular aid and attendance due to his service-connected diabetic peripheral neuropathy.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's appeal of VA withholding his disability compensation benefits to offset a $600,000 tort settlement. The decision found that the withholding was proper under law.
- Granted
The Board has granted compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for the appellant's disability of the left eye, to include loss of vision, finding that there is an approximate balance of negative and positive evidence regarding whether the VA's negligence caused the disability.
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