The Board remands the claims for service connection for COPD, right and left hand disabilities, and a cervical spine disability due to inadequate VA examinations.
The deciding factor: The August 2024 and November 2024 addendum VA COPD opinions were deemed inadequate as they did not consider all of the Veteran's exposures during military service. The examiner also did not address whether the Veteran's hand and cervical spine disabilities are related to his in-service experiences or caused by a service-connected disability.
- Claimed conditions
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Right hand disability, Left hand disability, Cervical spine disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 16, 2025
- Citation
- 25008006
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.
- 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.
- Denied
The appeal for service connection for PTSD was dismissed, and the claims for a compensable rating for the lower back scar, service connection for COPD, and peripheral artery disease were denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection for PTSD, COPD, a gastrointestinal disability, and migraines due to lack of evidence supporting a link between these conditions and her military service.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for low back disability, cervical spine disability, and right leg nerve disability as the evidence did not support a causal relationship between these conditions and the Veteran's active service.
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