The Board has remanded the case for an addendum VA opinion to address inaccuracies in the February 2019 VA opinion and provide opinions on whether it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran's death was related to VRE infection, caused by VA carelessness or negligence, or proximately caused by an event not reasonably foreseeable.
The deciding factor: The Board found the February 2019 VA opinion inadequate due to inaccurate factual premises and insufficient explanation of conclusions.
- Claimed conditions
- Stroke, Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus (VRE) Infection
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 11, 2019
- Citation
- 19145265
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 service connection of the cause of death to obtain a complete TERA memorandum and a VA examination opinion.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various disabilities, including a low back disability, neck disability, nerve damage of the neck, back, and hip, liver cirrhosis, stroke, migraines, ovarian disability, heart disability, seizure disorder, and right ear disability.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for heart problem, sleep apnea, diabetes, stroke, tinnitus, GERD, and hypertension as new and relevant evidence was not received to support the claims.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for hypertension, migraine headaches, and sleep apnea, but denied a rating in excess of 10 percent for tinnitus.
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