The Board remands the claim for a VA medical opinion to address the nature and etiology of the Veteran's lung condition, including granulomatous disease and pulmonary nodules.
The deciding factor: The December 2024 medical opinion is deemed inadequate due to its lack of rationale addressing whether the conditions contributed substantially or materially to the Veteran's death, and the Board acknowledges that a remand by the Board confers on the veteran the right to compliance with its remand orders.
- Claimed conditions
- granulomatous disease, pulmonary nodules
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 11, 2025
- Citation
- 25004960
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew the appeal for service connection for supraventricular arrhythmia, chronic paronychia, psoriasis and rosacea (claimed as skin condition), pulmonary nodules, and valvular heart disease.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted an effective date of September 21, 2021, for the award of service connection for granulomatous disease.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for 12 respiratory conditions due to a need for additional medical evidence and examinations.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for pulmonary nodules and remanded the claims for hypertension, thyroid nodules, valvular heart disease, cataracts, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction due to missing records and inadequate opinions.
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