The Board remanded the Veteran's claims for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for additional disabilities resulting from a September 2013 VA gastric sleeve surgery due to insufficient rationale in the medical opinions and unaddressed evidence that the gastric leak may have been present in December 2013. The TDIU claim was remanded as inextricably intertwined with the § 1151 claim pending its resolution.
The deciding factor: The Board found pre-decisional duty to assist errors including failure to obtain private medical records from Methodist Richardson Hospital and insufficient medical opinion rationale addressing the Veteran's negligence contentions regarding the December 2013 CT scan interpretation.
- Claimed conditions
- Gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) leak, Stomach disability, Diaphragm disability, Left lower lung disability
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 16, 2025
- Citation
- A25108439
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 various conditions, including bilateral hearing loss, stomach disability, neuropathy, OSA, migraines, tinea corporis, and left 5th metacarpal finger fracture, as the evidence did not support a finding of current disabilities or a nexus to service.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for diabetes mellitus type II and an initial 10 percent rating, but no higher, for hypertension. The remaining claims for service connection were denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's requests to reopen claims for service connection for residuals of a head injury and stomach disability, as well as his claim for service connection for a left hand disability.
- Dismissed
All appeals for service connection and evaluations of various conditions were dismissed as duplicative, with decisions already issued in January 2025.
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