The Veteran's lung disability, characterized as empyema, is being remanded for a new examination to determine the current nature, extent, and severity of her condition due to incomplete or unacceptable pulmonary function testing (PFT) results.
The deciding factor: Incomplete PFT results due to nerve damage and subsequent pain prevent accurate rating determination.
- Claimed conditions
- Empyema
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 14, 2019
- Citation
- 19118618
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,948 · Granted: 29% (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 19118618.
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's residuals of empyema and pneumonia were not caused by VA care, despite the initial misdiagnosis. The Board found that the VA medical opinions provided in July 2019 and November 2020 were inadequate due to an inaccurate factual premise.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has ordered a remand to obtain an addendum medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's empyema was caused by VA's failure to diagnose pneumonia and/or empyema during his treatment in December 2008 and January 2009.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran is seeking compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for residuals of empyema, claiming that VA's failure to diagnose pneumonia and/or empyema when he sought treatment in December 2008 and January 2009 resulted in additional disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran is seeking compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for residuals of empyema, which he contends was misdiagnosed by VA treatment providers in December 2008 and January 2009. The Board finds that further development is needed to address the outstanding questions pertaining to the pending claim.
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