The Board has determined that additional development is needed for the adjudication of several claims, including those related to back pain, asbestos exposure, chest pain/sinus ventricular tachycardia, acquired psychiatric disability (schizophrenia), sleep apnea, fractured right great toe, traumatic brain injury (TBI), post traumatic headaches with migraine features, and macular lesion, left eye with scotoma. The Veteran's claims are being remanded for further development.
The deciding factor: The Board notes that the Veteran submitted various documents in support of his claims but it is unclear from a review of these documents as to which ones are specifically from the Veteran’s Social Security Administration (SSA) file or supplemented by the Veteran himself. The RO should attempt to retrieve the Veteran's outstanding SSA records and associate them with the claims file accordingly.
- Claimed conditions
- back pain, residuals of asbestos exposure, chest pain/sinus ventricular tachycardia, acquired psychiatric disability (schizophrenia), sleep apnea, fractured right great toe, traumatic brain injury (TBI), post traumatic headaches with migraine features, macular lesion, left eye with scotoma
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 31, 2019
- Citation
- 19159535
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 19159535.
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 a direct service connection opinion and an adequate secondary service connection aggravation opinion.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for asthma and remanded claims for insomnia and sleep apnea. Other conditions were denied.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including sinusitis, elbows condition, cervical condition, erectile dysfunction, kidney condition, sleep apnea, wrists condition, asthma, shoulders condition, ankles condition, eye condition (bilateral dry macular degeneration), peripheral vascular disease (heart condition), and rhinitis.
- Dismissed
The appeal for service connection for sleep apnea is dismissed as the benefit sought has been granted, making the case moot.
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