The Board has remanded the case due to inadequate medical opinions regarding service connection for headaches. The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disability and headaches are not related to his service or a service-connected condition.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not provide an adequate opinion on whether the Veteran’s headaches were proximately due to or aggravated by a service-connected disease or injury, as required by law.
- Claimed conditions
- Acquired psychiatric disability, Headaches
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 21, 2020
- Citation
- 20068037
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 Board denied service connection for various disabilities, including an acquired psychiatric disability, headaches, a back disability, heart disability, and residuals of a stroke, as the evidence did not support a finding that these conditions were related to the Veteran's active service or caused by his service-connected left ear disabilities.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew the appeal in September 2025, stating that she is now 100% permanently and totally disabled effective April 29, 2025.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for a disability rating in excess of 50 percent for PTSD with TBI and a disability rating in excess of 10 percent for headaches as secondary to PTSD with TBI due to a duty to assist error.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for a rating in excess of 50 percent for her acquired psychiatric disability, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating.
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