The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for bladder cancer, multinodular goiter, and osteoporosis due to service connection. The remand requires additional development including obtaining updated VA and/or private treatment records, an addendum medical opinion from a medical professional with appropriate expertise, and scheduling the Veteran for a new examination if necessary.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the opinions provided by the VA examiners were inadequate for adjudicative purposes due to lack of discussion on specific facts and circumstances of the case at hand, failure to consider aggravation in regard to secondary service connection, and reliance on outdated medical literature. The remand is necessary to ensure due process.
- Claimed conditions
- bladder cancer, multinodular goiter, osteoporosis
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 26, 2020
- Citation
- 20069170
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 bladder cancer, finding it to be related to the Veteran's in-service herbicide exposure.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date of December 12, 2023, for a 50 percent evaluation of bipolar disorder and remanded the other issues for further development.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, bladder cancer, due to in-service exposure to ionizing radiation.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection of bladder cancer to obtain an adequate VA TERA opinion and provide a clarifying opinion on the relationship between exposure to fuel or CARC and bladder cancer.
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This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.