The Board remands the claim for service connection of the Veteran's cause of death to obtain a medical opinion on direct service connection, including conceded exposure to herbicide agents in Vietnam.
The deciding factor: The Board finds AOJ's failure to obtain a medical opinion on direct service connection is a pre-decisional duty to assist error and remand is necessary.
- Claimed conditions
- hypoxia respiratory failure, chronic respiratory insufficiency, COPD
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 26, 2025
- Citation
- A25055304
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for COPD, finding that the evidence does not support a link between the Veteran's respiratory condition and his military service, including exposure to Agent Orange.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions and a TDIU, as the evidence did not support a finding that any of these disabilities were related to the Veteran's military service.
- Granted
The Veteran's COPD precluded him from obtaining and maintaining substantial gainful employment, warranting a Total Disability Rating Based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU).
- Denied
The Board denied an effective date earlier than August 10, 2022, for the grant of a 60 percent rating for sarcoidosis, asthma, chronic bronchitis, and COPD.
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