The Board has not found sufficient compliance with previous remand directives and has ordered another remand due to the inadequacy of a recent VA addendum opinion. The remand requires an advisory medical opinion addressing whether the Veteran's cause of death was caused by herbicide exposure, including Agent Orange and Agent Blue, or aggravated by his service-connected hypertension.
The deciding factor: The previous opinion is inadequate as it did not address all theories of entitlement, particularly those related to herbicide exposure and hypertension.
- Claimed conditions
- cause of death, metastatic adenocarcinoma originating in kidneys
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 18, 2019
- Citation
- 19104668
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 remands the claim for a clarifying opinion on whether the Veteran's service-connected disabilities caused his death through obesity as an intermediate step.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter of entitlement to service connection for cause of death due to a need for additional evidence, specifically an autopsy report and a medical opinion.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issue of service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, to include as a result of exposure to ionizing radiation, due to lack of substantial compliance with previous remand directives.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter of entitlement to service connection for cause of death due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error and the need for a VA medical opinion.
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