The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claim for service connection of his right inguinal hernia as secondary to his service-connected adjustment disorder with anxiety and major depressive disorder due to insufficient medical opinion regarding whether the hernia was caused by or aggravated by his mental health condition.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not provide an adequate opinion on whether the Veteran's service-connected psychiatric disorder led to the right inguinal hernia, which is required for secondary service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- right inguinal hernia
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 26, 2024
- Citation
- A24014475
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 A24014475.
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 additional evidence is needed to address the Veteran's claims for service connection for gastrointestinal disability, right inguinal hernia, hiatal hernia, and bilateral hearing loss. The claims are being remanded for further development.
- Partly granted
The Board denied an initial compensable rating for the service-connected scar, status post right inguinal hernia repair, and a higher than 10 percent rating for the painful scar. The right inguinal hernia was remanded for further evaluation.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for a compensable disability rating for a right inguinal hernia and residuals thereof, as well as for surgical abdominal scars (as a residual of surgery to repair right inguinal hernia), based on the evidence not supporting a more severe condition than noncompensable.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for right eye glaucoma and right inguinal hernia as additional development is needed to address the Veteran's theories of entitlement.
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