The Veteran's claim is being remanded for additional development, including a VA examination to determine if he has any additional disability as a result of his in-service pilonidal cyst excision surgery and whether that disability was caused by the care provided by VA.
The deciding factor: The Board found the June 2016 VA examination inadequate and remanded for another examination to evaluate the Veteran's § 1151 claim and determine if he has any additional disability resulting from his in-service pilonidal cyst removal procedure, including chronic back pain.
- Claimed conditions
- pilonidal cyst removal, chronic lower back pain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 3, 2019
- Citation
- 19190870
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 3,319 · Granted: 25% (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 19190870.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied service connection for sinusitis and remanded the Veteran's claims for chronic lower back pain, right knee pain, left knee pain, neck pain, and GERD.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal of service connection for sinusitis is dismissed. The issue of service connection for chronic lower back pain is remanded.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the Veteran's appeal for service connection for chronic lower back pain due to untimely filing of a Notice of Disagreement. The Board granted service connection for tinnitus, finding that it resulted from active duty service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for back disability due to a duty-to-assist error, specifically the failure to obtain relevant private treatment records.
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