The Board has found that there has not been substantial compliance with the prior remand directives and therefore, the case is being returned to the RO for further development. The Veteran's claims for increased ratings are being remanded due to inadequate posthumous retrospective medical opinions provided by VA examiners.
The deciding factor: The VA examiners' reports were found to be inadequate as they did not address all pertinent evidence of record, including VAMC treatment records and the Veteran’s hearing testimony. The VA examiners also failed to provide a comprehensive analysis regarding the severity of the Veteran's service-connected conditions throughout the entire period on appeal.
- Claimed conditions
- skin cancer, paralysis of the left true vocal cord, non-malignant thyroid nodular disease, status post thyroidectomy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 9, 2020
- Citation
- 20072280
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.
- Partly granted
The appeal for service connection for skin cancer was dismissed due to untimeliness, while the claim for squamous cell carcinoma was granted.
- Dismissed
The appeal was dismissed due to the Veteran's death during the pendency of the claims.
- Partly granted
Service connection for prostate cancer on an accrued basis was granted based on the benefit-of-the-doubt doctrine, finding competent and credible evidence at least approximately balanced between service-connected prostatitis and prostate cancer. Service connection was denied for stomach cancer, colon cancer, skin cancer, the Veteran's cause of death, and dependency indemnity compensation benefits.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for skin cancer, including as due to participation in toxic exposure risk activity (TERA), finding no evidence of the disease during service or within a year after separation and noting that the earliest diagnosis was nearly 25 years post-service.
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