The Board remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for a psychiatric disability, to include as secondary to a service-connected foot disability, due to an AOJ error in failing to provide notice of the Veteran's right to a hearing under 38 C.F.R. § 3.103(b)(1) and (d).
The deciding factor: The remand is necessary to correct the AOJ's error in satisfying the regulatory duty to notify the Veteran of his right to a pre-decisional hearing, which could have a reasonable possibility of aiding in substantiating the claim.
- Claimed conditions
- psychiatric disability
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 9, 2024
- Citation
- A24064477
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 remands the claim for a psychiatric disability to correct a pre-decisional duty to assist error, specifically regarding the presumption of soundness at entrance into service.
- Denied
The Board denied higher initial disability ratings for the service-connected psychiatric disability and denied earlier effective dates for TDIU, SMC at the schedular housebound rate, and DEA benefits.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 70 percent disability rating for the Veteran's psychiatric disability and also granted a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU), but denied an earlier effective date for service connection.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 60 percent rating for prostate cancer with residuals, denied ratings in excess of 10 percent for tachycardia and an initial compensable rating for erectile dysfunction, and granted service connection for a psychiatric disability.
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