The Board remands the claim for service connection for Parkinson's Disease to obtain a medical opinion regarding its etiology, considering potential exposure to Agent Orange outside the presumptive period.
The deciding factor: The appellant cannot establish entitlement to service connection on a presumptive basis but can seek it on a direct basis due to the half-life of Agent Orange and possible exposure outside the presumptive window.
- Claimed conditions
- Parkinsonism
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 18, 2025
- Citation
- A25024729
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 all appeals, including those for service connection and higher ratings for various conditions.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted special monthly compensation (SMC) based on the need for regular aid and attendance due to service-connected Parkinsonism, upper and lower extremity disorders associated with Parkinsonism, and PTSD with unspecified neurocognitive disorder.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a neurological disorder, to include progressive aphasia, Parkinsonism, and Alzheimer's disease, due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error regarding the Veteran's exposure to herbicides in service.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a disability manifested by essential tremors to include Parkinsonism, as there was no evidence of an in-service manifestation and the earliest indication of symptoms was more than 45 years after separation from service.
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