The Board has remanded the claims for an initial disability rating in excess of 10 percent prior to February 17, 2017, for TBI with headaches and a rating in excess of 10 percent beginning February 17, 2017, and prior to December 30, 2019, for TBI due to inadequate examinations that did not address the Veteran's contentions regarding syncope.
The deciding factor: The Board found that VA examiners did not adequately address the Veteran's contentions of experiencing syncope related to his service-connected TBI and ordered a retrospective medical opinion to determine the severity of his TBI from March 2006 to December 2019, including any effect on consciousness.
- Claimed conditions
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Headaches
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 28, 2023
- Citation
- 23047387
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 23047387.
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.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its residuals, including unsteady gait, somnolence, and cognitive dysfunction. The decision is based on the Veteran's credible lay statements about in-service head injuries and subsequent seizures.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for initial compensable ratings for obstructive sleep apnea and headaches, finding that the evidence does not support a finding of persistent daytime hypersomnolence or other manifestations consistent with a compensable disability rating under the criteria established by Diagnostic Codes. The matter is remanded to obtain additional information from the Veteran regarding his headaches and their impact on his daily life.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran does not have a current diagnosis of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and therefore, service connection for TBI is denied.
- Granted
The Veteran's OSA is granted as secondary to PTSD, but his headaches are denied due to lack of service connection.
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