The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran contracted HIV in service. The claim will be reconsidered after a new examination and medical opinion is provided.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not address the Veteran's risk factors for contracting HIV, including his contention of a contaminated needle during dental care in service.
- Claimed conditions
- 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
- November 22, 2019
- Citation
- 19188448
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 19188448.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection for HIV, secondary to his PTSD with anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder, was granted. Additionally, an increased rating of 100 percent for PTSD was granted from February 17, 2021.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for lichen sclerosis of the penis and denied an effective date prior to September 22, 2021, for the award of service connection for HIV as well as an initial rating in excess of 10 percent for HIV.
- Granted
The Board granted an initial 10 percent rating for HIV, effective from April 26, 2022.
- Denied
The Board denied entitlement to service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, as there was no evidence linking the Veteran's HIV to his military service.
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