The Board has ordered a new medical opinion regarding the Veteran's current bilateral eye disability, as his previous examination was not conducted due to his failure to appear. The case is being remanded for this purpose.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's service treatment records indicate he sustained an eye injury in service, but the current eye disorder is attributed to age-related cataracts rather than a connection to service.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral Eye Disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 23, 2020
- Citation
- 20005083
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 various disabilities and denied an initial rating in excess of 30 percent for PTSD with alcohol use disorder.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various disabilities, including bilateral eye disability, heart disability, erectile dysfunction, prostate disability, urinary disability, lumbar spine disability, cervical spine disability, left shoulder disability, right shoulder disability, left hip disability, right hip disability, left knee disability, right knee disability, left ankle disability, right ankle disability, and left foot disability. The Board found that the evidence did not support a service connection for these conditions.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, right and left carpal tunnel syndrome, a chronic back disability, and a bilateral eye disability as there was no competent evidence of in-service incurrence or aggravation, nor any nexus to service.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for obstructive sleep apnea, effective from the date of the February 2025 rating decision.
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