The Board remands the claims for service connection for retinopathy and bilateral nuclear sclerosis as secondary to diabetes mellitus type II due to the Veteran's failure to cooperate with scheduled VA examinations.
The deciding factor: The requested VA opinions regarding the Veteran's claimed conditions have not been obtained due to his failure to cooperate with scheduling of necessary VA examinations, and further development is needed before a final decision can be made.
- Claimed conditions
- retinopathy, bilateral nuclear sclerosis
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 3, 2025
- Citation
- 25004573
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 service connection for eye disabilities, to include retinopathy, bilateral nuclear cataracts, bilateral dermatochalasis, dry eye, and pinguecula, as the prior VA medical opinion regarding aggravation was found to be conclusory and lacked necessary medical reasoning.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for increased ratings for a service-connected heart condition and retinopathy to correct duty to assist errors related to obtaining private treatment records.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for hypertension prior to August 10, 2022, and remanded the issue of service connection for retinopathy and dry eye syndrome.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II, retinopathy secondary to the non-service-connected diabetes mellitus, type II, stroke secondary to the non-service-connected diabetes mellitus, type II, a psychiatric disorder (previously claimed as depression), and a pre-existing head injury.
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