The Board remands the matter of service connection for chronic kidney disease for exhaustive development to locate and secure complete service treatment records, including a report of the Veteran's service separation examination.
The deciding factor: The failure to obtain outstanding service records is a pre-decisional duty to assist omission that requires correction on remand.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic kidney disease
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 18, 2025
- Citation
- A25036028
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 910 · Granted: 31% (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 A25036028.
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 Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for chronic kidney disease, effective January 30, 1998. The decision is based on newly associated service treatment records that were not previously considered in the original denial of the claim.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal was dismissed as the appellant withdrew their request for a hearing and to continue with the appeal.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found that the Veteran meets the basic medical eligibility criteria for PCAFC benefits due to his need for personal care services based on symptoms or residuals of neurological or other impairment or injury. However, further clinical evaluation is needed to determine if participation in the program is in the Veteran's best interest.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient medical evidence regarding the relationship between chronic kidney disease and service. The Veteran's claim will be returned for further examination and opinion.
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