The Board remands the issue of service connection for headaches (claimed as migraines) to correct pre-decisional errors, including a lack of adequate medical opinion and consideration of pre-existing conditions.
The deciding factor: The September 2022 VA medical opinion lacks necessary rationale, and there were pre-decisional errors in not obtaining a VA examination and VA addendum medical opinion prior to the November 2022 rating decision on appeal.
- Claimed conditions
- headaches (claimed as migraines)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 16, 2025
- Citation
- A25034900
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,549 · Granted: 26% (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 A25034900.
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 dismissed the claims for service connection for headaches and sinusitis due to an improper concurrent election of multiple review options. The claim for service connection for GERD was remanded for further development.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for headaches (claimed as migraines) because the Veteran does not have a qualifying current disability. The evidence indicates that the headache symptoms were a side effect of medication and not an independent disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings for chronic bronchitis and headaches are remanded due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors. A new VA examination is needed to assess the severity of his conditions, including PFT results.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for hypertension, diabetes mellitus type II, headaches (claimed as migraines), back strain, and neck strain. The evidence does not support a finding of in-service injury or disease related to these conditions.
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