The Board remands the claims for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death and entitlement to Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) on the basis of 38 U.S.C. § 1151 due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error in that the prior medical opinions are inadequate.
The deciding factor: The Board finds the previous medical opinions inadequate because they fail to address crucial questions related to the claims, including whether the Veteran's mental health disorder was related to service or his service-connected disabilities and whether the decision to decrease pain medication was negligent.
- Claimed conditions
- Depression, Alcohol Abuse Disorder, Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), Left Knee Degenerative Joint Disease, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Tinnitus, Hypertension, Left Shoulder Degenerative Joint Disease, Facial Acne with Scar Residual, Sinusitis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 15, 2024
- Citation
- A24065563
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 claims for service connection for diabetes mellitus type II and hypertension, to include as secondary to left orchiectomy, for further development in accordance with the PACT Act.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, finding that the Veteran's conditions are related to in-service noise exposure.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date of May 17, 2019, for a 70 percent disability rating for PTSD but denied earlier effective dates for service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus.
- Partly granted
The Board granted readjudication of previously denied claims for service connection for PTSD and COPD, while remanding other issues including entitlement to service connection for an eye disorder, hypertension, tinnitus, a compensable rating for bilateral hearing loss, TDIU, and an initial rating for PTSD.
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