The Veteran is seeking compensation for anal fistulas, which she believes were caused by VA's failure to properly diagnose and treat rectal damage. The Board has determined that the current medical opinion is inadequate and requires a remand for further examination.
The deciding factor: The current medical opinion did not address whether the additional disability (anal fistula) resulted from an event not reasonably foreseeable, including complications associated with multiple surgeries in 2016.
- Claimed conditions
- anal fistulas
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 23, 2020
- Citation
- 20005926
Veterans Law Judge
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 20005926.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claims for anal fissures, respiratory disability (claimed as asthma), right knee disability, and sleep apnea are all granted. The claim for a respiratory disability is denied due to lack of evidence of such condition during or after service. Service connection for the right knee disability is also denied because there was no in-service injury or disease that resulted in current symptoms. Sleep apnea is denied as well.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the appeals for service connection on all issues due to a lack of a timely Substantive Appeal.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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