The Board has determined that there were pre-decisional duty to assist errors and a remand is required due to the inadequate medical opinion provided in the November 2019 VA examination.
The deciding factor: The examiner did not provide a rationale as to why the Veteran's left eye melanoma is not related to his active military service, other than the reported right eye injury being to the opposite eye. The Board finds this opinion inadequate and requires an addendum opinion from an appropriate clinician regarding whether the Veteran’s left eye disorder is at least as likely as not related to his active service.
- Claimed conditions
- left eye condition, melanoma, cystoid macular edema
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 7, 2020
- Citation
- A20018108
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 Board granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his lung cancer was related to his service-connected melanoma.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection, higher ratings, and earlier effective dates, as well as dismissed his claim for a TDIU.
- Partly granted
The Board denied an initial rating higher than 50 percent for persistent depressive disorder and remanded the claims for service connection for a left eye condition and headaches.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the claims for earlier effective dates and higher ratings for various conditions, including left eye condition, right eye condition, hypertension, left knee, right knee, obstructive sleep apnea, and coronary artery disease (CAD), as well as denied an earlier effective date for CAD.
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