The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient evidence regarding the Veteran's exposure to coal dust during service and its relation to his current pulmonary disease.
The deciding factor: The Board found that there is no medical opinion linking the Veteran’s in-service exposure to coal dust with his current pulmonary disease, necessitating further development of the record.
- Claimed conditions
- pulmonary disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Burn pits / airborne hazards
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 29, 2019
- Citation
- 19190162
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,776 · 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 19190162.
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 Board has granted service connection for the Veteran's pulmonary disease, including asthma and COPD, as well as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), finding that these conditions are related to his time in Afghanistan where he was exposed to burn pits.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed all appeals for service connection for various conditions as a result of exposure to herbicide agents due to the appellant's death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that further development is necessary before the Veteran's claims can be adjudicated due to a lack of medical evidence on file for determining the etiology of his claimed disabilities. The claims are REMANDED for these purposes.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for obstructive sleep apnea, pulmonary disease, hypertension, and vision loss secondary to hypertension due to additional development being required.
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