The Board denied service connection for pulmonary fibrosis and remanded the issue of entitlement to service connection for a psychiatric disability to include as secondary to service-connected disabilities.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner's opinion determined that the Veteran's pulmonary fibrosis was due to rheumatoid arthritis and not due to TERA exposures, and there is no evidence linking the psychiatric disability to the service-connected heart or hypertension disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- pulmonary fibrosis, psychiatric disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 5, 2025
- Citation
- A25104981
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,960 · Granted: 36% (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 A25104981.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's pulmonary fibrosis is related to in-service exposure to herbicide agents, and the Board has granted service connection for this condition.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for pulmonary fibrosis as there is no evidence of a current diagnosis.
- Denied
The Board denied the appellant's eligibility for direct payment of fees from past due benefits awarded in November 2024, as the decision was an initial decision on a new claim seeking increased rating for the Veteran's psychiatric disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for a back disability, hand warts, and psychiatric disability due to inconsistencies in the Veteran's reports regarding the etiology of these conditions.
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