The Veteran's claims for increased ratings on accrued benefits purposes are remanded due to the need for further agency of original jurisdiction (AOJ) action, including notification about her rights as a substitute or an accrued benefit claimant and obtaining additional evidence.
The deciding factor: The appeal involves unadjudicated claims that were pending at the time of the Veteran's death. The appellant must be notified about her rights to pursue these service connection claims as either a substitute or an accrued benefits claimant, and then the AOJ should make a substitution determination.
- Claimed conditions
- diabetic nephropathy with hypertension, cerebrovascular disease with bowel incontinence residual, neurogenic bladder, stroke residuals, left lower extremity weakness and neuropathy, neuropathy, right lower extremity, right upper extremity neuropathy, left upper extremity neuropathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 8, 2019
- Citation
- 19101419
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.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's tinnitus is granted, while fibromyalgia, internal or external hemorrhoids, bilateral hearing loss, and neuropathy are denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection for left and right upper extremity neuropathy, finding that there was no evidence of these conditions during service or within a reasonable time thereafter, and that they were not caused by toxic exposure or any other in-service event.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions and a TDIU, as the evidence did not support a finding that any of these disabilities were related to the Veteran's military service.
- Dismissed
The appeals for service connection for various conditions were dismissed due to the Veteran's death.
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