The Veteran's anal fistula is being remanded for a VA examination to determine if it is related to service, specifically his time as a security escort in Qatar.
The deciding factor: The examiner needs to assess whether the anal fistula condition had its onset during service or is related to service duties, including driving a large convoy truck for long hours.
- Claimed conditions
- anal fistula
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 2, 2019
- Citation
- 19100127
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,088 · Granted: 33% (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 19100127.
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 four issues related to the Veteran's daughter, including a claim for anal fistula, right knee injury residuals, left ear hearing loss, and valvular heart disease. The decision also notes that no fiduciary was appointed on behalf of the Appellant due to her adoption.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for an anal fistula, finding that there was no evidence to support a relationship between his service-connected GERD and the development of the anal fistula. The Board also noted that the Veteran had not been diagnosed with any other conditions such as Crohn's disease or irritable bowel syndrome.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for hemorrhoids with anal fissure and fistula, finding that the Veteran's burn pit exposures likely aggravated his existing IBS-related diarrhea, which in turn caused his hemorrhoids.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for anal fistula secondary to an anal abscess, finding that the additional disability was a normal consequence of the natural progression of the disease and not caused by fault on the part of VA medical treatment.
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