The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient consideration of a VA medical opinion regarding the cause of death.
The deciding factor: The decision is based on the need for a VA medical opinion to determine if the Veteran's cause of death was related to service, including exposure at high altitude.
- Claimed conditions
- pulmonary thromboembolism, deep vein thrombosis of lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 14, 2020
- Citation
- 20066716
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,548 · Granted: 31% (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 20066716.
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 has remanded the case for further development and opinion regarding the Veteran's claimed pulmonary disabilities, including whether they are related to service or PTSD.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient compliance with previous remand directives and the need for additional opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's pulmonary disability.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, finding that his bilateral knee disabilities contributed to his wheelchair use and ultimately led to a pulmonary embolism resulting in his death. The decision is based on the benefit of doubt.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for a VA Gulf War examination to determine if any identified pulmonary disability and/or respiratory disability are medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illnesses (MUCMI) or related to service, including exposure to Gulf War environmental hazards.
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