The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's stroke, which occurred during his military service. The Veteran is presumed exposed to herbicide agents but there is no direct evidence linking his stroke to his military service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner was not able to reconcile with prior VA and private medical opinions as well as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine articles regarding the risk factors for stroke due to Agent Orange exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of a stroke
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 4, 2020
- Citation
- 20051554
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 20051554.
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 has granted service connection for a left hip disability and residuals of a stroke, both secondary to the Veteran's service-connected lumbar spine and right hip disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the Veteran's residuals of a stroke as secondary to his heart condition, finding that there was no established service connection for the heart condition and noting insufficient evidence to link the stroke directly to military service.
- Granted
The Board has granted secondary service connection for the Veteran's residuals of a stroke, finding that it is related to his service-connected hypertension.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew their appeal regarding the issue of service connection for residuals of a stroke as secondary to hypertension.
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