The Board has decided that the Veteran's DIC benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 1318 are granted, but has remanded for further action on the issue of service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death.
The deciding factor: The decision is based on the Veteran's continuous total disability rating due to his service-connected schizophrenia, paranoid type and right inguinal herniorrhaphy scar. The Board also noted that no VA medical opinion has been provided regarding the etiology of the Veteran’s cause of death.
- Claimed conditions
- schizophrenia, paranoid type, hypertensive and arteriosclerotic heart disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 20, 2020
- Citation
- 20013352
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 20013352.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his appeal for an earlier effective date for the grant of service connection for schizophrenia, paranoid type.
- Denied
The Veteran's appeal for an increased disability rating in excess of 100 percent for service-connected schizophrenia has been denied. The appeal for special monthly compensation based on aid and attendance due to the Veteran's service-connected disabilities has also been denied.
- Dismissed
The appeal as to the reduction in the rating of mild restrictive lung disease from 10 percent to noncompensable effective February 19, 2022 is dismissed.,An initial disability rating in excess of 10 percent for painful scars associated with gallbladder removal with IBS is denied. The Veteran's claim was already pending and the appeal is not considered valid as it does not meet the criteria for an effective date earlier than October 22, 2021.,The Veteran's claim for a disability rating in excess of 10 percent for painful scars associated with gallbladder removal with IBS is denied. The scars are not both painful and unstable and do not cover an area of at least 144 square inches (929 square centimeters).,The Veteran's claim for a disability rating in excess of 100 percent for schizophrenia, paranoid type, is denied as the Veteran has been assigned the maximum disability rating allowed under Diagnostic Code 9201.
- Dismissed
The appeal seeking revision of the 1972 rating decision that denied service connection for psychiatric disabilities was dismissed as it is now considered moot due to a complete grant of benefits.
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