The Board has remanded the cases due to incomplete examinations and need for further medical evaluation. The Veteran's rib disability may be related to his service-connected left foot disability, but a new examination is needed to determine this. For facial cancer, a VA examination is required as there is no direct evidence of asbestos exposure. The rating for the left foot disability needs to be reassessed.
The deciding factor: The examinations provided were incomplete and did not adequately address the Veteran's claims regarding his rib disability and facial cancer due to asbestos exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- Rib Disability, Facial Cancer
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 20, 2019
- Citation
- 19120217
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,645 · Granted: 19% (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 19120217.
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 Veteran's claim for a rating in excess of 50 percent for PTSD disability was denied. The Board found that the evidence did not indicate total occupational and social impairment, but rather intermittent occupational and social impairment warranting a 50% rating. Service connection claims for bilateral knee, rib, neck, and sciatic nerve disabilities were remanded due to inadequate examination reports.
- Denied
The Board found no evidence of a direct relationship between the Veteran's current left shoulder and rib conditions and his service, thus denying the claims.
- Denied
The Board has determined that there is no current evidence of a right shoulder disability, rib disability, or right ear hearing loss disability. Therefore, service connection for these conditions cannot be granted.
- Denied
The Board found that the veteran's claimed conditions were not incurred or aggravated by his active duty service and denied all claims.
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