The Board has remanded the Veteran's appeal for further development and consideration of his claim for service connection for a psychiatric disability, including PTSD and schizophrenia. The AOJ must obtain medical records from Hampton Court Nursing Home in Miami, Florida, and request an opinion from a VA clinician to determine the nature, date of initial onset, and etiology of any psychiatric disabilities present during the appeal period.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the current VA opinion was inadequate for readjudicating the Veteran's claim due to the lack of in-service psychiatric symptoms or diagnoses. The AOJ must obtain additional medical records and request a new opinion from a VA clinician to address all theories of entitlement available to the Veteran.
- Claimed conditions
- schizophrenia, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 21, 2020
- Citation
- 20068183
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,316 · 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 20068183.
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 due to insufficient evidence regarding the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorders, including bipolar disorder and PTSD. The Veteran will be asked to provide additional medical records and undergo a VA examination.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including PTSD and major depressive disorder, is being remanded due to the need for additional development regarding his alleged stressors.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for additional development regarding the Veteran's service connection claim for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including PTSD.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for bilateral hearing loss, migraine headaches, and PTSD due to additional development of records and examination.
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