The Board has decided that the Veteran's bilateral eye diabetic retinopathy may be related to his service-connected diabetes mellitus and is requesting additional medical records and a new VA examination to determine this relationship.
The deciding factor: The current evidence does not establish a diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy in either eye, and there are outstanding treatment records that need to be obtained.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral eye diabetic retinopathy
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 18, 2019
- Citation
- 19130485
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,272 · Granted: 31% (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 19130485.
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 granted service connection for various conditions, including neck disability manifested by pain and diabetes mellitus type II, secondary to the Veteran's service-connected bilateral knee degenerative arthritis. The other conditions were also granted as they are caused by the now-service-connected diabetes mellitus type II.
- Dismissed
The veteran's appeals for higher ratings were dismissed because he withdrew all pending claims and appeals.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II, bilateral eye diabetic retinopathy, and left toe disability. The decision is based on the Veteran's exposure to herbicide agents during his service in Korea.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including back disability, hypothyroidism, cataracts of the eyes, hypertension, bilateral eye diabetic retinopathy, diabetes mellitus type II, coronary artery disease, and depression, as they were not found to be related to service.
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