The Board has remanded the case for a new VA medical opinion to address whether the Veteran's chronic bronchitis disability pre-existed service, if it did, whether it was aggravated during service, and if not related to service.
The deciding factor: The Court found several deficiencies in the May 2017 Board decision regarding the Veteran's claim for service connection for chronic bronchitis.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic bronchitis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 21, 2019
- Citation
- 19164896
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 19164896.
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for asthma and remanded claims for insomnia and sleep apnea. Other conditions were denied.
- Granted
The Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for service connection for chronic bronchitis, asthma, sinusitis, and rhinitis were granted. The claims for service connection for right hand disability, right shoulder disability, right ankle disability, left ankle disability, erectile dysfunction, bilateral shoulder disability, and left wrist disability were remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for asthma, bronchitis, and COPD due to inadequate medical opinions.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 30 percent rating for asthma but denied all other claims, including service connection for various conditions and a compensable rating for scars between the scapulae.
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