The Board remands the claims for a compensable rating for COPD with emphysema and service connection for ED, including as secondary to other trauma and stressor related disorder, due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
The deciding factor: The remand is necessary to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors, such as missing medical records and an inadequate VA examination opinion.
- Claimed conditions
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) with emphysema, Erectile Dysfunction (ED)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 11, 2025
- Citation
- A25012254
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 915 · Granted: 38% (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 A25012254.
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 Board has dismissed the Veteran's claim for service connection of Erectile Dysfunction as it was fully granted prior to this decision. The Board has also remanded the issue of service connection for Hypertension.
- Granted
The Board has granted an earlier effective date of October 27, 2021 for the award of service connection for Erectile Dysfunction (ED). The GERD claim is remanded due to a duty-to-assist error.
- Granted
The Board has granted an effective date of November 16, 2021 for the award of service connection for Erectile Dysfunction (ED) as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected Depressive Disorder with Alcohol Use Disorder and Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) for loss of use of a creative organ.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to inadequate evaluation of COPD with emphysema, requiring an additional VA examination.
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