The Board has not fully addressed the issues of service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death and whether his preexisting scleroderma was aggravated by service. The case is being remanded to obtain additional medical opinions.
The deciding factor: The decision does not specify a clear reasoning factor but emphasizes the need for further VA medical opinions regarding the service connection issues.
- Claimed conditions
- scleroderma, pulmonary edema, pulmonary hypertension, acute renal failure, metabolic acidosis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 14, 2019
- Citation
- 19185094
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 denied an earlier effective date for the grant of a 70 percent rating for PTSD and granted an effective date of May 31, 2004, but no earlier, for the award of a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities (TDIU).
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for pulmonary hypertension as secondary to the Veteran's already service-connected idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for scleroderma to schedule a VA examination and address the Veteran's reported symptoms during active duty and periods of ACDUTRA.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter to obtain a VA opinion to determine which disability, obstructive sleep apnea or restrictive airway disease, was predominant from November 8, 2012 to May 22, 2022.
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