The Board remanded the claim for service connection of abdominal scars to conduct further development and obtain a medical opinion.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's pre-existing scar was noted on entry into service, so the claim is for aggravation during service, but no VA examination was conducted before the rating decision.
- Claimed conditions
- abdominal scars
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 15, 2025
- Citation
- A25003603
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 857 · Granted: 35% (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 A25003603.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 are being remanded due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error, requiring the provision of an adequate medical opinion regarding whether her current disabilities are related to VA care.
- Granted
The Veteran's esophageal cancer residuals, neck scar, and abdominal scars have been awarded service connection effective June 23, 2021. The Board granted a 30 percent rating for the esophageal cancer residuals from that date.
- Partly granted
The Board denied increased ratings for abdominal scars and kidney cancer residuals but granted a separate 30 percent rating for the left nephrectomy due to kidney cancer.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for a compensable rating for abdominal scars as they are not deep, do not have an area of at least 39 square centimeters, are not unstable or painful, and do not result in any disabling effects.
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