The Board has found a pre-decisional duty to assist error as the Veteran was not scheduled for a VA examination. The issue is remanded so that he can be afforded an appropriate VA examination prior to adjudication of his claim.
The deciding factor: There is evidence demonstrating current throat pain related to a tonsillectomy performed while on active duty, triggering the VA's duty to provide the Veteran with a VA examination.
- Claimed conditions
- glossopharyngeal neuralgia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 17, 2019
- Citation
- A19002029
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 A19002029.
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 has remanded the Veteran's claims for additional development due to new evidence and a need for opinions from a neurological specialist regarding the cause of his symptoms.
- Denied
The Board found that the March 1979 rating decision, which assigned a noncompensable rating for glossopharyngeal neuralgia, was not clearly and unmistakably erroneous. The claim for an earlier effective date for the grant of a 30% rating for glossopharyngeal neuralgia is denied as it is not factually ascertainable that the disability increased to a 30 percent degree within the year preceding October 7, 2002. The claim for a higher rating than 30% for glossopharyngeal neuralgia is also denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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