The Veteran's claims for initial compensable evaluations for service-connected Brucellosis and status post cholecystectomy (claimed as gallbladder removal) are remanded due to the need for new examinations to assess the severity of her disabilities.
The deciding factor: The Veteran has claimed that her service-connected conditions have worsened, and VA's duty to assist requires a new examination when there is evidence indicating possible increase in disability or worsening symptoms.
- Claimed conditions
- Brucellosis, status post cholecystectomy (claimed as gallbladder removal)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 2, 2019
- Citation
- 19151492
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,421 · 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 19151492.
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 found that the evidence does not support a finding of a bacterial infection, including brucellosis or CPE, at any time during the pendency or in close proximity to filing the service connection claim. The Veteran's symptoms were attributed to other conditions such as thyroid issues.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran does not have chronic fatigue syndrome, Brucellosis, or a psychiatric disability to include PTSD. The claims for these conditions are denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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