The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for Parkinson's disease and SMC based on need for aid and attendance or housebound status due to inadequate medical opinions regarding the relationship between the Veteran's in-service exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE) and his Parkinson's disease.
The deciding factor: The current medical opinion is inadequate to adjudicate the claim of service connection for Parkinson's disease, as it did not consider all relevant evidence including studies showing an increased risk for Parkinson's disease among those with occupational exposure to TCE.
- Claimed conditions
- Parkinson’s disease
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 9, 2019
- Citation
- 19161774
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,429 · Granted: 29% (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 19161774.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his claims for increased ratings in multiple conditions, including Parkinson's disease and associated symptoms. The appeals are dismissed.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeals for service connection for prostate cancer, melanoma, Parkinson’s disease, and frontotemporal dementia with Parkinsonism due to herbicide exposure as they are no longer valid since the Veteran died more than four years ago.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for Parkinson’s disease and related symptoms was granted with an effective date of March 1, 2012. The travel voucher submitted by the Veteran in June 2018 provided sufficient information to identify and obtain relevant service records.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for Parkinson’s disease and its secondary complications was granted with an effective date of February 15, 2011.,Service connection for loss of smell secondary to Parkinson’s disease was also granted with an effective date of October 14, 2015.
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