The Veteran's claims for service connection for respiratory, skin, and heart disabilities are being remanded due to incomplete development of his exposure history at Dugway Proving Ground.
The deciding factor: Incomplete documentation of the Veteran’s exposure to chemical agents during service prevents a determination on the etiology of his current disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- respiratory disability (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), skin disability (basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma), heart disability (ischemic heart disease, coronary artery bypass graft, congestive heart failure, atrial fibrillation, status post dual chamber pacemaker placement, aortic stenosis)
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- Burn pits / airborne hazards
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 8, 2019
- Citation
- 19177551
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,977 · Granted: 27% (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 19177551.
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 has found that VA did not obtain all relevant Social Security Administration records, which may contain pertinent medical evidence. The case is therefore being remanded to allow for the retrieval of these records.
- Denied
The Veteran's service connection claims for various conditions were denied as new and material evidence was not received to reopen the claims, and the current diagnoses are not related to his active duty service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss claim is remanded for a more recent VA audiological examination.,The Veteran's respiratory disability and headache disorder claims are remanded due to inadequate April 2018 VA examinations.,The Veteran's intervertebral disc disease (IVDS) claim is remanded for a thorough and well-reasoned opinion regarding the nature and etiology of his lower back disorder.,The Veteran's hypertension claim is remanded for a nexus opinion, as the April 2018 VA examination was inadequate.,The Veteran's congestive heart failure claim is remanded due to its inextricability with the remanded hypertension and respiratory disorder claims.,The Veteran's bilateral eye disabilities claim is remanded for further evidentiary development based on his lay assertions regarding the onset of symptoms.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found that the medical opinions obtained by the AOJ are inadequate for adjudicative purposes and therefore, a further remand is necessary to allow the Veteran to fully develop his claims.
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