The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinion regarding whether VA's failure to properly treat the Veteran and ensure his catheter was working before discharge caused his death from septic shock.
The deciding factor: The decision is based on a lack of sufficient medical evidence to determine if VA's care was negligent or if an unforeseeable event caused the Veteran's death.
- Claimed conditions
- Septic shock, Urinary tract infection
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- November 14, 2019
- Citation
- 19185925
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,429 · Granted: 29% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 19185925.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim of service connection for cause of death, finding that his service-connected conditions did not contribute to his death. The evidence showed well-controlled heart symptoms prior to death and no causal relationship between anxiety and cardiopulmonary disease or renal failure.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran seeks an earlier effective date for residuals of bladder cancer in remission, urinary tract infection, and hematospemia. The Board finds that the records needed to substantiate this claim have not been obtained and orders them to be obtained.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for further development, including obtaining a new medical nexus opinion and addressing potential exposure to herbicides and asbestos.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The appeal for service connection for urinary tract infection is remanded due to a pre-decisional duty-to-assist error in the medical opinions provided.
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