The Veteran's claims for secondary service connection for kidney disease and peripheral neuropathy in the upper and lower extremities are being remanded due to a duty-to-assist error.
The deciding factor: There was an omission of consideration regarding secondary aggravation during the VA examination, which is necessary for secondary service connection claims.
- Claimed conditions
- kidney disease, left upper extremity peripheral neuropathy, right upper extremity peripheral neuropathy, left lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 23, 2019
- Citation
- A19003793
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,199 · Granted: 25% (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 A19003793.
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 Veteran's claims for service connection for hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and kidney disease are being remanded due to the need for VA examinations to determine if these conditions are related to his exposure to contaminants in the water supply at Camp Lejeune during service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for heart disease, hypertension, kidney disease, and low back pain due to potential errors in duty to assist. The AOJ is required to verify the Veteran's alleged exposure to herbicide agents and obtain private treatment records.
- Granted
The Veteran's Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) based on the need for regular Aid and Attendance is granted as of April 25, 2024.,For diabetes mellitus, a rating in excess of 20 percent is denied.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for diabetes mellitus type II, hypertension, and kidney disease, finding that these conditions are related to the Veteran's exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. The decision also remanded the issue of service connection for obstructive sleep apnea.
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