The Board has remanded the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death due to a lack of medical evidence regarding the cause of his death and the potential link between his service-connected hip injury with embedded shrapnel and his death from septic shock and renal failure.
The deciding factor: The examiner must determine whether it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran’s service-connected hip injury with embedded shrapnel was a principal or contributory cause of his death.
- Claimed conditions
- septic shock, renal failure
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 2, 2021
- Citation
- 21011671
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 21011671.
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 Board has determined that a remand is necessary to correct a pre-decisional duty to assist error and obtain a new medical opinion regarding the relationship between the Veteran's service, his death, and any service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of death due to lack of evidence showing a link between any service-connected disability and the Veteran's death. The conditions listed on his death certificate were not related to his military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to inadequate VA examinations and the need for further medical opinions regarding the Veteran's chronic kidney disease.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for the cause of his death, finding that there was no evidence linking any of the immediate or contributing causes of his death to his period of active duty service. The Board also found that the PACT Act did not apply in this case as the Veteran served prior to the period when herbicide agents were presumed used.
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