The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient evidence and procedural errors, including failure to provide notice of the evidence needed to substantiate the claim and failure to attempt to obtain requested medical records. The appellant's daughter is seeking benefits for a form or manifestation of spina bifida, other than spina bifida occulta, due to her father’s exposure to herbicide agents in Vietnam.

The Board denied an effective date prior to January 1, 2020 for the grant of benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 1822 for a child born with spina bifida due to the specific statutory effective date set by The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019.

The Board denied benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 1815 for a child born with birth defects and remanded the claim for benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 1805 for a child born with spina bifida.

The Board remands the case to determine whether the appellant's congenital neural tube defect caused or contributed to his January 1986 hypoxic brain injury event, and if not, to estimate the type and severity of symptoms he would currently exhibit due to spina bifida.

The Board remands the case to obtain the Veteran's complete service records and readjudicate the issues of entitlement to benefits for spina bifida and other covered birth defects.