The Board remands the claims for service connection for the Veteran's cause of death and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation under 38 USC 1318 due to a need for a medical opinion regarding the etiology of the Veteran's causes of death, considering toxic exposure at Camp Lejeune.
The deciding factor: A remand is necessary as there was a failure to obtain a VA medical opinion and evidence of record shows participation in a toxic exposure risk activity (TERA) during service at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
- Claimed conditions
- Acute respiratory failure, Encephalopathy, Renal failure, Diabetes mellitus type 2, Morbid obesity, Heart failure preserved ejection fraction
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- Camp Lejeune water
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 22, 2025
- Citation
- A25091600
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 A25091600.
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 has determined that the Veteran's death was not caused by any service-connected disability, and thus denied his claim for service connection for cause of death.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for cause of death due to acute respiratory failure and subdural hematoma, finding that no service-connected disability contributed substantially or materially to his death. The Veteran served in Vietnam but there is no evidence of a service-connected condition related to Agent Orange exposure.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the Veteran's cause of death (acute respiratory failure, atrial fibrillation, and/or hypertension) is related to his active duty service, including from exposure to toxins and chemicals from open burn pits during the harsh winters in Korea. The Board finds a pre-decisional duty to assist error and remands for obtaining a VA medical opinion.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for sleep apnea, finding that it is secondary to the Veteran's service-connected disabilities with obesity as an intermediary step.
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