The Board has remanded the claim of service connection for a right eye disability due to insufficient consideration of all relevant evidence and lack of clear rationale in the VA examiner's opinion. The Veteran is entitled to another examination or opinion that addresses his lay assertions regarding in-service injury and continuity of symptoms.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not adequately address the Veteran’s lay statements about in-service injury and continuity of symptoms, which are critical for establishing service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- Right eye disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 30, 2020
- Citation
- 20081760
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,196 · Granted: 17% (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 20081760.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for SMC under 38 U.S.C. § 1114(k) based on the loss of use of one eye having only light perception is dismissed as moot.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for a right eye disability and TDIU prior to August 16, 2022. The claim for an increased rating for OSA was withdrawn.
- 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.
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