The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for a sinus condition and entitlement to TDIU due to incomplete opinions from an examiner regarding causation and aggravation of his sinus conditions. The claims will be readjudicated after obtaining updated VA treatment records, additional development as needed, and new opinions.
The deciding factor: Incomplete opinions were provided by the examiner regarding whether the Veteran's current sinus disabilities are related to service or due to his service-connected deviated septum and left ear disability.
- Claimed conditions
- sinus infections, allergic rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, rhinitis
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 22, 2020
- Citation
- 20080628
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,990 · 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 20080628.
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 Veteran's rhinitis and gastric ulcer with hiatal hernia were evaluated, but the Board found that neither condition warranted a higher rating.,For rhinitis, the evidence did not show greater than 50 percent obstruction of both nasal passages or complete obstruction on one side. For gastric ulcer with hiatal hernia, symptoms were described as infrequent and mild.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for service connection for asthma and a 10 percent rating based on multiple noncompensable service-connected disabilities were dismissed. The claim of entitlement to a compensable rating for eczema was denied, while the claim of entitlement to allergic rhinitis was not addressed as it pertained to different issues.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for chronic rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, and chronic fatigue syndrome as there is no evidence of a current disability in the record.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities rendered him so helpless as to be in need of regular aid and attendance, leading to the grant of SMC based on aid and attendance.
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