The Board has decided to remand the case due to lack of substantial compliance with previous remand directives and insufficient rationale in the VA opinion regarding the etiology of the Veteran's death.
The deciding factor: The VA clinician did not provide adequate rationale for their opinions on the appellant’s theories of entitlement, including those related to a cold injury to the right foot and onset of diabetes during service.
- Claimed conditions
- septicemia, PVD
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 11, 2019
- Citation
- 19144480
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,680 · Granted: 24% (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 19144480.
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 DIC and survivors' pension benefits due to the lack of evidence linking septicemia to service, and because the Appellant's income exceeded the maximum annual pension rate.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors and a need for further medical opinion regarding the relation between the Veteran's service-connected disabilities and his cause of death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for further development due to insufficient medical opinions regarding service connection for conditions causing numbness or related symptomatology in the lower extremities, including PAD and PVD. The Veteran's exposure to Agent Orange is conceded.
- Granted
The claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death has been granted due to the submission of relevant new evidence, and a VA opinion is needed regarding the etiology of his cause of death.
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