The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the Veteran's COPD and its relationship to his service-connected spontaneous pneumothorax.
The deciding factor: The VA medical opinion provided by the June 2018 examiner is inadequate as it did not address whether the Veteran’s service-connected spontaneous pneumothorax aggravated his COPD, nor did it provide a clear explanation for the nature of the pleural bleb in service and its relation to the Veteran's COPD.
- Claimed conditions
- COPD
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 16, 2019
- Citation
- 19129415
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 Board denied service connection for COPD, finding that the evidence does not support a link between the Veteran's respiratory condition and his military service, including exposure to Agent Orange.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions and a TDIU, as the evidence did not support a finding that any of these disabilities were related to the Veteran's military service.
- Granted
The Veteran's COPD precluded him from obtaining and maintaining substantial gainful employment, warranting a Total Disability Rating Based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU).
- Denied
The Board denied an effective date earlier than August 10, 2022, for the grant of a 60 percent rating for sarcoidosis, asthma, chronic bronchitis, and COPD.
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