The Veteran's left eye disability is being remanded for a determination on whether it was caused by carelessness, negligence, or fault during his January 2015 cataracts surgery at the VA medical center.
The deciding factor: The decision will be based on an expert opinion regarding the specific circumstances of the Veteran’s case and whether any additional disability was reasonably foreseeable and proximately caused by VA's failure to exercise proper care.
- Claimed conditions
- Left eye disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 21, 2020
- Citation
- 20080278
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 various disabilities, including an acquired psychiatric disability, alcohol abuse, a liver disability, and hand and eye disabilities, as the evidence did not support a finding that these conditions were related to service or secondary to any service-connected condition.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, right shoulder disability, left elbow disability, right elbow disability, left ankle disability, and right ankle disability as the evidence did not support a finding of a current disability related to service. The claims for psychiatric disability, obstructive sleep apnea, left eye disability, right eye disability, cervical spine disability, and left shoulder disability were remanded.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for an enlarged prostate, a bladder disability, and right and left eye disabilities as the evidence did not support a finding that these conditions were related to the Veteran's active military service, including in-service herbicide exposure.
- Partly granted
The Board granted the reopening of claims for service connection based on new and material evidence, but remanded several issues for further development.
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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.