The Board remands the claims for service connection for asthma and degenerative arthritis of the thoracolumbar spine due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error, including an inadequate medical opinion regarding the etiology of these conditions.
The deciding factor: Remand is necessary to correct a pre-decisional duty to assist error and obtain new medical opinions addressing the etiology of the Veteran's asthma and degenerative arthritis of the thoracolumbar spine.
- Claimed conditions
- Asthma, Degenerative arthritis of the thoracolumbar spine (claimed as osteoarthritis)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 28, 2024
- Citation
- A24069182
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for asbestosis, bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), rhinitis, sinusitis, and asthma. The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss was also denied a compensable rating.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various disabilities and denied higher ratings for several service-connected conditions.
- Granted
The Board granted a 30 percent disability rating for asthma from August 23, 2021 to May 14, 2022.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for a heart condition as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected lymphedema and granted an initial 20% rating for a painful and unstable scar on the right mid-shin, effective April 14, 2022. Other claims were remanded.
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