The Board remands the service connection claim for a respiratory disability to obtain an adequate medical opinion regarding the likely etiology of the diagnosed respiratory disabilities, including whether they are related to potential toxic exposures during the Veteran's service at Camp Lejeune.
The deciding factor: The December 2024 and April 2025 opinions were found inadequate due to various deficiencies, necessitating an additional remand for new medical opinions.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, chronic bronchitis, non-specific interstitial pneumonia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Camp Lejeune water
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 30, 2025
- Citation
- 25008592
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,990 · Granted: 35% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 25008592.
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 Veteran's respiratory disability, including asthma and COPD, is denied as service connection is not warranted due to the condition being solely attributed to smoking.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the cases of sleep apnea and asthma due to a failure to provide proper notice for a hearing.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for service connection for asthma and a 10 percent rating based on multiple noncompensable service-connected disabilities were dismissed. The claim of entitlement to a compensable rating for eczema was denied, while the claim of entitlement to allergic rhinitis was not addressed as it pertained to different issues.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities rendered him unable to secure and follow substantially gainful employment prior to August 14, 2023.
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