The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient evidence regarding whether the Veteran's cause of death is related to his in-service herbicide exposure.
The deciding factor: An adequate medical opinion is needed to determine if the Veteran’s established in-service exposure to herbicides contributed substantially or materially to his cause of death (i.e., liver disease).
- Claimed conditions
- cardiac arrest, respiratory failure, sepsis, terminal liver disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 8, 2019
- Citation
- 19161359
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 19161359.
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 medical opinion on whether the Veteran's acute hypoxemia, respiratory failure, and pneumonia were related to service or toxic exposure under the PACT Act.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for the cause of death, determining that it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran's fatal conditions were caused by his military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the case to obtain additional evidence, including service treatment records and private medical records, and to obtain an addendum medical opinion regarding the Veteran's causes of death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for cause of death and dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) benefits due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error regarding the appeal for service connection for cause of death.
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