The Board has remanded the case due to issues with the Veteran's contact information and the need for additional VA examinations. The appeal is related to service connection for mood disorder, polysubstance dependence, and HIV.
The deciding factor: There are unresolved issues regarding the Veteran's contact information and the need for further medical examination to determine the nature and etiology of his psychiatric disorders.
- Claimed conditions
- mood disorder, polysubstance dependence, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 22, 2019
- Citation
- 19179678
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 service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include major depressive disorder, mood disorder, and unspecified depressive disorder due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a mood disorder as secondary to the service-connected headaches or tinnitus, finding no probative evidence linking the two conditions.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for prostatitis, HIV, CHF, GERD, herpes, a pulmonary disability, headaches, and type 2 diabetes mellitus as the evidence did not support a finding of a current disability or a nexus to service or a service-connected disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for further development, including obtaining private treatment records and scheduling VA examinations.
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This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.