The Board has determined that additional examinations and opinions are needed to determine if the Veteran's cervical spine disability, anxiety, GERD, and Bell’s Palsy are related to his service or service-connected conditions.
The deciding factor: The current medical evidence is insufficient to establish a direct relationship between the claimed disabilities and the Veteran's military service or any service-connected condition.
- Claimed conditions
- Cervical spine disability, Anxiety, Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), Bell's Palsy
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 5, 2019
- Citation
- 19143448
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 matters for additional development, including obtaining private treatment records and conducting VA examinations.
- Partly granted
The Board denied the claims for an initial compensable rating for left ear sensorineural hearing loss, service connection for a right ear hearing loss disability, and a left eye disorder. However, it granted service connection for a back disability and radiculopathy of both lower extremities as secondary to the back disability.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for a heart disability, to include coronary artery disease (CAD), as secondary to the Veteran's anxiety and assigned a 70 percent rating from April 29, 2025. The Board also granted an initial 30 percent rating prior to that date.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for low back disability, cervical spine disability, and right leg nerve disability as the evidence did not support a causal relationship between these conditions and the Veteran's active service.
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