The Board has decided that more evidence is needed to determine if the Veteran's death was caused by exposure to harmful chemicals or chemical fumes during service, and thus remands the case for further development.
The deciding factor: The VA medical opinions provided were inadequate as they did not address whether the Veteran’s renal failure, which was listed on his death certificate, was related to service, including as due to chemical exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- Intractable congestive heart failure, Ischemic bowel syndrome, Renal (kidney) failure, Widespread arthrosclerosis
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 20, 2020
- Citation
- 20074529
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,614 · Granted: 35% (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 20074529.
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 the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that there was no evidence linking his causes of death to any service-connected disability or exposure to toxic chemicals.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient development of records and a need for medical opinions regarding the Veteran's cause of death.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death was not service-connected as the evidence does not show any relationship between his causes of death and his military service.
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