The Board has remanded the cases due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the cause of death and service connection. The appellant contends that herbicide exposure contributed to her husband's death, but no medical opinion addressing these claims was obtained.
The deciding factor: Medical opinions are needed to address whether the Veteran’s service-connected conditions or herbicide exposure caused his death.
- Claimed conditions
- Pulmonary fibrosis, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Prostate cancer
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 5, 2019
- Citation
- 19126287
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.
- Granted
The Board restored the Veteran's 100 percent disability rating for his service-connected prostate cancer, effective September 1, 2024.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for an earlier effective date for service connection of an acquired psychiatric disability, to include PTSD, as it needs a medical opinion addressing the nature and etiology of the condition prior to October 16, 2023.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted special monthly compensation (SMC) based on the need for regular aid and attendance due to his service-connected disabilities.
- Partly granted
The Veteran is granted special monthly compensation (SMC) based on the need for regular aid and attendance of another since September 30, 2020.
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