The Board remands the appeal to obtain potentially relevant treatment records from Wilford Hall Medical Center and the prison system.
The deciding factor: The AOJ's failure to obtain the Veteran's relevant medical records constitutes a pre-decisional duty to assist error.
- Claimed conditions
- cognitive impairment
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 13, 2025
- Citation
- A25023639
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 service connection for left shoulder osteoarthritis and remanded the other claims for further development.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for various conditions, including emotional changes, weakness, difficulty concentrating, behavioral changes, cognitive impairment, decreased memory concentration and attention, memory loss, delayed reaction time, dizziness and vertigo, sleep disturbance, and difficulty hearing in noisy situations. The Veteran was also granted a 100 percent disability rating for residuals of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as chronic fatigue syndrome.
- Partly granted
The appeals for higher ratings of cognitive impairment and depression, as well as service connection for hypertension, were dismissed due to untimely filing. The appeal for a higher rating for adjustment disorder was remanded because the veteran did not receive an informal conference.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remanded the veteran's claims for higher disability ratings and earlier effective dates due to insufficient medical evidence and VA's duty to assist.
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This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.