The Board has remanded the claim of service connection for liver failure due to a duty to assist error. An addendum opinion is needed from a VA examiner regarding the etiology of the Veteran's liver failure, including autoimmune hepatitis, and whether it is at least as likely as not caused by exposure to environmental hazards during his Gulf War service.
The deciding factor: The Board found that an addendum medical opinion was necessary due to a pre-decisional error in obtaining one from the VA examiner.
- Claimed conditions
- liver failure, autoimmune hepatitis
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- Burn pits / airborne hazards
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 1, 2020
- Citation
- A20017680
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 715 · Granted: 43% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
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 A20017680.
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 Veteran's death was not caused by a service-connected disability, and therefore his surviving spouse is denied entitlement to service connection for the cause of his death.
- Granted
The Veteran's non-VA emergency medical expenses incurred on February 14, 2024 are granted as the treatment was for an emergent condition (jaundice) and a VA facility was not feasibly available.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for autoimmune hepatitis and rheumatoid arthritis, both found to be related to the Veteran's in-service toxic exposures at Camp Lejeune.
- Partly granted
The appeal for service connection for depression was dismissed as it is subsumed by the already service-connected PTSD. A 50 percent rating for cluster headaches was granted, and a higher rating for autoimmune hepatitis was denied.
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