The Board has not fully addressed the private medical opinion regarding the Veteran's cause of death and remands for further clarification.
The deciding factor: The decision is based on incomplete or non-compliant medical opinions from previous remand directives.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic obstructive lung disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 8, 2021
- Citation
- 21001482
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 21001482.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's death is attributed to multiple conditions, including chronic obstructive lung disease. The Board has decided that the service connection for the cause of death must be remanded due to a duty-to-assist error.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for exostosis right foot and bilateral plantar fasciitis, but denied service connection for hysterectomy, left shoulder pain, right shoulder pain, dysmenorrhea, chronic obstructive lung disease, female sexual arousal disorder, and a foot callus.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a medical opinion regarding the etiologies of the Veteran's depression, alcohol use disorder, hypertension, and COPD in relation to his cause of death.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for bilateral benign breast tumors and chronic obstructive lung disease, finding no evidence linking these conditions to his active duty service.
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