The Veteran's service-connected disabilities are rated 100% disabling. The Board has determined that a remand is necessary to determine whether her need for aid and attendance can be met by her service dog or if she would require the regular aid and attendance of another person.
The deciding factor: The need for aid and attendance must be based on actual requirements of personal assistance from others, including inability to dress, undress, clean oneself, feed oneself, attend to wants of nature, etc. The Veteran's condition may have changed since her last examination, necessitating a new evaluation.
- Claimed conditions
- Pulmonary fibrosis, Systemic lupus erythematosus with mixed organic brain disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 1, 2019
- Citation
- 19108081
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,170 · Granted: 38% (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 19108081.
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 claim of entitlement to SMC based on the need for aid and attendance for the Veteran's spouse due to conflicting information in the June 2025 examination. A VA examination is needed to determine if the spouse requires regular aid and attendance.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was not due to a service-connected disability.,The Veteran did not meet the qualifications for DIC benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 1318.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim of service connection for a respiratory disorder, including claims related to asbestos exposure and claimed ionizing radiation exposure. The evidence did not support a link between any in-service exposures and the current diagnoses.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is remanded for additional examinations and medical opinions to determine the severity of his back scars, lumbar spine disability, bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy, and SMC based on aid and attendance.
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