The Board remands the claims for a compensable rating for migraine headaches, an increased rating for thoracolumbar spine strain, and an increased rating for unspecified trauma and stressor related disorder to ensure compliance with VA's duty to assist.
The deciding factor: Remand is necessary due to the Veteran's failure to report for scheduled examinations and the need to obtain identified medical records.
- Claimed conditions
- migraine headaches, thoracolumbar spine strain, unspecified trauma and stressor related disorder
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 14, 2025
- Citation
- A25034171
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's migraine headaches were granted a 50 percent disability rating, effective August 8, 2023, due to very frequent completely prostrating and prolonged attacks that are productive of severe economic inadaptability.
- Granted
The Board granted a 50 percent rating for the Veteran's migraine headaches based on prostrating attacks occurring more than once a month and severe economic inadaptability.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for migraine headaches as proximately due to the Veteran's service-connected tinnitus.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 30 percent rating for the Veteran's service-connected migraine headaches, but no greater.
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