The Veteran's appeal is remanded for further development and readjudication of his claims, including obtaining SSA records, verifying occupational history, and obtaining independent medical opinions. The issues include increased evaluation for service-connected psychiatric disabilities, TDIU, and compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for shortness of breath.
The deciding factor: The Board finds that the current evaluations do not fully address all aspects of the Veteran's claims and requires additional development to ensure compliance with VA's duty to assist.
- Claimed conditions
- shortness of breath (dyspnea)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 7, 2021
- Citation
- 21062355
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,316 · Granted: 43% (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 21062355.
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for tinnitus and denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss, dizziness, headaches, palpitations, shortness of breath (dyspnea), sleep apnea, plantar fasciitis and heel spurs, and left big toe posttraumatic residual pain.
- Denied
The Board denied the appellant's claims for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1815 and § 1805 as she does not meet the legal criteria to qualify for benefits due to her father's exposure to herbicide agents in Vietnam.
- Granted
The Veteran's claims for costochondritis, shortness of breath, and radiculopathy of the left lower extremity have been granted. The claim for initial compensable rating for surgical scars has been remanded.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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