The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for low back disability, acquired psychiatric disability (including anxiety disorder, mood disorder, polysubstance abuse, and PTSD), and sleep disorder due to an undiagnosed illness. The reasons include inadequate medical nexus opinions and inextricably intertwined issues.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the current VA opinion was inadequate as it did not consider the Veteran's lay statements regarding her continuous pain since service and her medical history prior to 1996.
- Claimed conditions
- low back disability, acquired psychiatric disability, sleep disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 30, 2020
- Citation
- 20007910
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 claims for service connection for various disabilities to the AOJ for further development and consideration of evidence not previously considered.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the veteran's claimed conditions, including right shoulder arthritis, left shoulder arthritis, right hip condition, left hip condition, low back disability, and bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy, as there was no evidence of in-service injury or illness related to these conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the Veteran's claim for service connection for a low back disability to correct a pre-decisional duty to assist error.
- Partly granted
The appeal for service connection for allergic rhinitis and lumbosacral or cervical strain was dismissed due to untimeliness, while the other issues were remanded for further evidence.
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