The Board has determined that the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death must be remanded due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the relationship between the Veteran's exposure to asbestos during service and his mesothelioma. The appellant is asked to provide additional evidence, including any relevant records from the VA examiner.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the May 2016 VA opinion was inadequate as it relied on inaccurate facts about the Veteran’s exposure to asbestos in service.
- Claimed conditions
- Respiratory failure, Pleural effusion, Sarcomatous mesothelioma
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 10, 2019
- Citation
- 19153449
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,196 · Granted: 17% (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 19153449.
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 the Veteran's claim for service connection for cause of death, finding that there is no competent evidence linking any principal or contributory cause of his death to his service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death to consider additional evidence regarding exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
- Granted
The Board granted the claim for Death and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) based on service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, due to his in-service exposures to herbicides and extreme cold temperatures.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a medical opinion regarding the Veteran's cause of death, specifically addressing whether his respiratory failure, septic shock, hemorrhagic shock, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, and chronic osteomyelitis of the right leg were related to in-service toxic exposure or an in-service right leg injury.
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