The Board has expanded the scope of your claim to include consideration of any respiratory disability, including COPD. Your service connection for a respiratory disability is being remanded due to lack of an examination and need for medical opinion regarding its etiology.
The deciding factor: Your respiratory disorder may be related to exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune during service, but the claim is being remanded as you have not been examined by VA to determine this relationship.
- Claimed conditions
- respiratory disability, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- Camp Lejeune water
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 5, 2019
- Citation
- 19126217
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew the appeals for service connection for bilateral pes planus, obstructive sleep apnea, bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
- Granted
The Veteran was granted a 70 percent disability rating for unspecified trauma and stressor-related disorder with major depressive disorder, recurrent, and alcohol use disorder in early remission, as well as TDIU due to asthma and SMC at the housebound rate.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for asthma and remanded claims for insomnia and sleep apnea. Other conditions were denied.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for multiple conditions, including bilateral hearing loss and various musculoskeletal issues, as well as an initial rating in excess of 0 percent for rhinitis. However, the Board granted a 70 percent rating for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
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This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.