The Board has ordered a remand to obtain an additional VA medical opinion regarding the etiology of the Veteran's bilateral lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, specifically addressing his lay statements about symptom onset and treatment history.
The deciding factor: The examiner is asked to consider the Veteran’s lay assertions in determining whether there is at least a 50% likelihood that his current disability is related to service exposure to herbicides.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral lower extremity neuropathy
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 12, 2019
- Citation
- 19193180
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 19193180.
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 diabetes mellitus type II and bilateral lower extremity neuropathy, finding that the evidence did not support a causal relationship between these conditions and the Veteran's active military service.
- Dismissed
The appeal was dismissed due to the Veteran's failure to substantially comply with claims processing rules.
- Partly granted
The Board granted readjudication of the claims for service connection for headaches, a sleep condition (OSA), Parkinsonism (including Parkinson's disease), unspecified depressive disorder, CAD with atrial fibrillation, bilateral upper extremity neuropathy, and bilateral lower extremity neuropathy based on new evidence. The claim for hyperhidrosis was denied as no new relevant evidence was received.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for multiple conditions, including dizziness, degenerative changes and spinal stenosis of the thoracolumbar spine, bilateral lower extremity neuropathy, bronchiolitis, GERD, migraine headaches, neurogenic bowel, and sleep apnea.
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