The Board has decided that the Veteran's low back disability and hepatic steatosis are not service-connected. The appeal for hepatic steatosis is remanded due to a failure to consider all toxic exposure risk activities under the PACT Act.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not consider the total potential exposure through all applicable military deployments of the Veteran and the synergistic, combined effect of all toxic exposure risk activities of the Veteran as required by the PACT Act.
- Claimed conditions
- low back disability, hepatic steatosis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Camp Lejeune water
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 3, 2024
- Citation
- A24023045
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 A24023045.
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 found that remand is needed for the Veteran's claims due to duty to assist errors, including clarification of periods of service and obtaining relevant records. The Veteran will be afforded new medical examinations for each claimed disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and remanded the claims of right shoulder disability and low back disability due to insufficient evidence.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's claims for service connection for sleep apnea and hepatic steatosis have been denied. The claim for rheumatoid arthritis is being remanded.,Service connection has not been established for the claimed conditions.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection of a low back disability was granted with an effective date of January 9, 2018. The Board accepted her November 21, 2019 VA Form 20-0996 as a valid opt-in of the April 2019 SOC into the modernized review system.
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