The Board remands the claim for service connection for emphysema to obtain an adequate medical opinion regarding its etiology, particularly in light of the Veteran's exposure to herbicide agents during his service in Vietnam.
The deciding factor: A remand is necessary due to an inadequate pre-decisional duty to assist error related to obtaining a sufficient medical nexus opinion for the Veteran's emphysema claim.
- Claimed conditions
- emphysema
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 23, 2025
- Citation
- A25037409
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 denied service connection for Parkinson's disease, emphysema, muscle cramps, bilateral shoulder disability, and neck disability. However, it granted service connection for peripheral vascular disease and asthma.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for COPD, emphysema, a chest wall condition, PTSD, adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood, chronic, a low back condition, TBI, and a chest tumor.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's petitions to readjudicate claims for service connection for bradycardia, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, emphysema, hypothyroidism, polypectomy, prostate cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis as new and relevant evidence was not received. The claim for an acquired psychiatric disability is remanded.
- Dismissed
The appeal was dismissed due to the Veteran's death during its pendency.
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