The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for liver disability, digestive disability, and blood disability as secondary to liver disability due to potential herbicide agent exposure during service. The Veteran's private provider noted a reasonable suspicion that his cirrhosis with liver failure may be related to herbicide agent exposure.
The deciding factor: The Board found insufficient evidence to establish the relationship between the diagnosed disabilities and in-service herbicide agent exposure, necessitating further examination and development.
- Claimed conditions
- liver disability, digestive disability, blood disability
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 15, 2020
- Citation
- 20003607
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 claim for a digestive disability to obtain an addendum medical opinion addressing the etiology of the condition.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 70 percent rating for PTSD and an initial 10 percent rating for a headache disability, while denying ratings in excess of 40 percent for a low back disability and any compensable rating for allergic rhinitis. Service connection was granted for tinnitus and bilateral foot disabilities but denied for other conditions.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a digestive disability, an acquired psychiatric disorder, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as the evidence did not support a finding that these conditions were related to the Veteran's active duty.
- Dismissed
The appeal for issues related to eczema, IBS, headaches, liver disability, enlarged prostate and urinary frequency, allergic rhinitis, and restrictive lung disease were dismissed. The claim for a rating in excess of 10 percent for allergic rhinitis was denied.
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