The Veteran's lung disability, skin cancer, brain aneurysms and their residuals, and psychiatric disabilities are all remanded for further development. The VA is required to provide a medical examination if the information and evidence of record does not contain sufficient competent medical evidence to decide the claim.
The deciding factor: The claims involve potential service connection based on exposure to herbicide agents and/or asbestos in Vietnam, but no specific exposure has been confirmed. Further investigation into possible exposures is needed before making a determination.
- Claimed conditions
- lung disability, skin cancer, brain aneurysms and their residuals, psychiatric disability
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 8, 2019
- Citation
- 19126889
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 remands the claim for a psychiatric disability to correct a pre-decisional duty to assist error, specifically regarding the presumption of soundness at entrance into service.
- Denied
The Board denied higher initial disability ratings for the service-connected psychiatric disability and denied earlier effective dates for TDIU, SMC at the schedular housebound rate, and DEA benefits.
- Partly granted
The appeal for service connection for skin cancer was dismissed due to untimeliness, while the claim for squamous cell carcinoma was granted.
- Dismissed
The appeal was dismissed due to the Veteran's death during the pendency of the claims.
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