The Board has remanded the cases due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the causes of death and the relationship between the Veteran's alcohol abuse and his service-connected disability. The issues are inextricably intertwined.
The deciding factor: Insufficient medical opinions on the etiology of the causes of death and the role of the Veteran’s alcohol abuse in his death prevent a fully informed decision.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic esophageal cancer, hepatorenal syndrome, end-stage liver disease, cardiopulmonary arrest
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- Camp Lejeune water
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 14, 2020
- Citation
- 20002842
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 remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, for purposes of entitlement to dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC), as further development is necessary.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for gastrointestinal cancer other than esophageal cancer and stomach cancer, brain cancer, and prostate cancer. The issues of entitlement to service connection for esophageal cancer, metastatic esophageal cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer, and liver cancer were remanded.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death as there was no evidence linking any of the listed conditions to his military service.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, as there was no evidence to support a finding that his cardiopulmonary arrest, metastatic brain disease, or metastatic small cell carcinoma were related to his active duty service.
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