The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for additional development due to inaccuracies in the factual basis of a previous VA examination and the need to clarify whether Buerger’s Disease was caused by tobacco use during service.
The deciding factor: The decision is based on the inaccurate factual basis provided in an earlier VA examination report, which did not account for the Veteran's smoking history accurately. The Board also needs clarification from the examiner regarding whether Buerger’s Disease was caused or aggravated by pre-service smoking and post-service chronic stomach ulcers.
- Claimed conditions
- Buerger’s Disease, an acquired psychiatric disability (claimed as PTSD, diagnosed as depressive disorder), amputation of the right upper extremity, amputation of the left upper extremity, amputation of the right lower extremity, amputation of the left lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 14, 2019
- Citation
- 19185909
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,858 · Granted: 24% (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 19185909.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the Veteran's amputation of the left lower extremity, finding that it was not related to his active service. The decision also noted that the Veteran had diabetes mellitus but did not grant service connection for this condition.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for amputation of his right lower extremity, finding that there was no evidence to support a direct or secondary service connection. The March 2018 VA examiner concluded that the amputation was not caused by his service-connected right ankle cellulitis.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for amputation of the left lower extremity, finding that it is not causally related to active service or a service-connected disability.
- Dismissed
The appeal for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 has been dismissed due to the Veteran's death.
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