The Board remands the claim for service connection for cause of death to obtain a medical opinion on whether the Veteran's cause of death was caused by or etiologically related to exposure to multiple vaccinations during service.
The deciding factor: No opinion has been provided to assess whether the receipt of multiple vaccinations in service contributed substantially or materially to the cause of the Veteran's death many years later.
- Claimed conditions
- Acute on chronic hypoxic respiratory failure, Pulmonary hemorrhage, Lymphangitic lung metastasis, Metastatic adenocarcinoma of unknown origin, Malignant pleural effusions, Acute subarachnoid hemorrhage, Aspiration pneumonia, Dysphagia, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Coronary artery disease (CAD), Chronic congestive heart failure (CHF)
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- Gulf War
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 3, 2025
- Citation
- A25048781
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 granted readjudication of previously denied claims for service connection for PTSD and COPD, while remanding other issues including entitlement to service connection for an eye disorder, hypertension, tinnitus, a compensable rating for bilateral hearing loss, TDIU, and an initial rating for PTSD.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for a TDIU due to service-connected disabilities prior to February 14, 2025, as the evidence did not show that he was precluded from obtaining and maintaining substantially gainful employment during the appeal period.
- Denied
The appeal for service connection for PTSD was dismissed, and the claims for a compensable rating for the lower back scar, service connection for COPD, and peripheral artery disease were denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection for PTSD, COPD, a gastrointestinal disability, and migraines due to lack of evidence supporting a link between these conditions and her military service.
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