The Board has remanded the claim for a VA medical opinion to address the nature and etiology of the Veteran's respiratory disabilities, specifically COPD, benign pulmonary nodules, and asthma. The examiner must reconcile these diagnoses with previous records and provide an opinion on whether any diagnosed respiratory disability is related to service or caused by service-connected CAD.
The deciding factor: The VA medical opinion is needed to address the nature of the Veteran's current respiratory disabilities and their relationship to his active duty service, including consideration of aggravation due to service-connected coronary artery disease (CAD).
- Claimed conditions
- COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), Benign Pulmonary Nodules
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 4, 2020
- Citation
- 20071271
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 20071271.
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 the appeal because the Appellant did not file a timely substantive appeal after receiving the SOC, and there was no evidence of circumstances warranting equitable tolling.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an increased disability rating in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected bilateral pleural scar with obstructive and restrictive pulmonary disease, COPD and chronic bronchitis.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for chronic bronchitis, COPD, and emphysema but granted a 10 percent rating for hypertension.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection and an increased rating for the Veteran's respiratory conditions, including chronic sinusitis, chronic bronchitis, COPD, shortness of breath, and allergic rhinitis, to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
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