The Board has remanded the case due to an inadequate medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's right eye disability is aggravated by his service-connected left eye injury. The VA needs to obtain a new medical opinion addressing this issue.
The deciding factor: The previous medical opinion did not address the aggravation prong of secondary service connection, as required by the Board's prior remand directives.
- Claimed conditions
- right eye non-ischemic retinal vein occlusion, left eye injury with no light perception
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 7, 2024
- Citation
- 24032784
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 845 · Granted: 39% (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 24032784.
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 remanded the case due to failure to comply with prior directives, specifically a need for a new medical opinion addressing secondary service connection by way of aggravation.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for his right eye non-ischemic retinal vein occlusion, finding that it is not secondary to his service-connected left eye injury with no light perception.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient consideration of special considerations for paired organs and a need for an ophthalmologist's opinion addressing both causation and aggravation elements of secondary service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for further development, including scheduling a VA examination and sending appropriate VCAA notice to the Veteran's correct address in Milton, Florida.
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