The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient evidence regarding whether the Veteran's cause of death was related to his in-service exposure to herbicide agents and whether his hypertension contributed to his death. The AOJ is instructed to obtain a new VA medical opinion on these issues.
The deciding factor: The current opinions are inadequate as they do not address the specific issues raised by the Appellant regarding the Veteran's cause of death and hypertension.
- Claimed conditions
- liver failure, cardiac cirrhosis
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 8, 2023
- Citation
- 23014069
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 23014069.
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 death was not caused by a service-connected disability, and therefore his surviving spouse is denied entitlement to service connection for the cause of his death.
- Granted
The Veteran's non-VA emergency medical expenses incurred on February 14, 2024 are granted as the treatment was for an emergent condition (jaundice) and a VA facility was not feasibly available.
- Denied
The Board denied the appellant's claim for entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, as the evidence did not support a finding that the Veteran's heart condition, liver condition, or hepatitis C began during active service or were otherwise related to an in-service injury, event, or disease.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient evidence regarding the cause of death and its relation to service, particularly given the Veteran's exposure to herbicide agents in Thailand. The AOJ is instructed to obtain an Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record (ILER) for the Veteran and a toxic exposure risk activity (TERA) memorandum.
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