The Board remands the claim for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for major neurocognitive disorder, unspecified bipolar and related disorder, and unspecified alcohol-related disorder due to an inadequate VA opinion.
The deciding factor: The October 2021 VA opinion was found to be inadequate because it was based on incomplete medical records and did not analyze all the avenues for which the claim could be granted.
- Claimed conditions
- major neurocognitive disorder, unspecified bipolar and related disorder, unspecified alcohol-related disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 28, 2025
- Citation
- A25093492
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,081 · Granted: 38% (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 A25093492.
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 Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for service connection and Dependents' Educational Assistance have been granted, making these issues moot.
- Granted
The Veteran's major neurocognitive disorder, including dementia and stroke, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, and headaches are granted service connection as secondary to his already service-connected disabilities.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a duty-to-assist error and needs an adequate medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's service-connected hearing disorders aggravate his major neurocognitive disorder.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a restoration of the 40 percent disability rating for thoracolumbar spine degenerative disc disease and an initial 70 percent disability rating for unspecified bipolar and related disorder, along with a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected unspecified bipolar and related disorder alone.
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