The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for entitlement to a disability rating in excess of 30 percent for right eye blindness, service connection for right eye blindness prior to January 13, 2014, and an effective date prior to January 13, 2014 for special monthly compensation (SMC) based on loss of use. The claims will be remanded for further review.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the Veteran's claims were not properly adjudicated due to a lack of consideration of new and material evidence submitted by the Veteran's representative, leading to potential clear and unmistakable error in the original rating decision.
- Claimed conditions
- Right eye blindness
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 26, 2024
- Citation
- A24049917
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 A24049917.
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an initial rating of 80 percent for bilateral primary open-angle glaucoma, severe stage, unspecified pterygium, and right eye blindness, and a 60 percent rating for GERD.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's right eye blindness was caused by carelessness, negligence, lack of proper skill on the part of the surgical resident during cataract surgery at a VA facility. The event was not reasonably foreseeable.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that additional development is needed to determine the cause of the Veteran's right eye blindness and whether it was caused by VA carelessness, negligence or similar instance of fault. The case will be remanded for further action.
- Denied
The Veteran's right eye blindness, resulting from a failed VA right eye cataract extraction surgery in July 2008, was not proximately caused by or the result of VA carelessness, negligence, lack of proper skill, error in judgment or similar instance of fault on the part of VA. The Board denied compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for right eye blindness.
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