The Board is remanding the case to obtain a medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's asthma is related to his military service, specifically environmental exposures and in-service hospitalization with mechanical ventilation and tracheostomy. The opinion should also address if the Veteran's asthma is proximately due to his service-connected sleep apnea with restrictive ventilatory defect and if it has caused any aggravation of his asthma.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the previous medical opinions were inadequate, particularly regarding the question of aggravation under secondary service connection criteria.
- Claimed conditions
- Asthma
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 2, 2019
- Citation
- 19160063
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 19160063.
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 service connection for asbestosis, bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), rhinitis, sinusitis, and asthma. The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss was also denied a compensable rating.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various disabilities and denied higher ratings for several service-connected conditions.
- Granted
The Board granted a 30 percent disability rating for asthma from August 23, 2021 to May 14, 2022.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for a heart condition as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected lymphedema and granted an initial 20% rating for a painful and unstable scar on the right mid-shin, effective April 14, 2022. Other claims were remanded.
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