The Board has determined that the VA examinations and medical opinions provided prior to the January 2025 decision on appeal were inadequate. The Veteran's claim for service connection for a headache disorder, which is secondary to his service-connected disabilities, must be remanded due to duty-to-assist errors.
The deciding factor: The VA examinations did not address the relationship between the Veteran's headaches and his in-service exposures or provide sufficient rationale for their conclusions.
- Claimed conditions
- Headache Disorder
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 24, 2026
- Citation
- A26016401
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 A26016401.
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 Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Headache Disorder due to lack of in-service diagnosis or treatment, and the absence of a causal relationship between these conditions and service. The claim for Headache Disorder is remanded for further evaluation.
- Granted
An effective date of April 11, 2022, but no earlier, for the award of service connection for a headache disorder is granted. A 30 percent rating, but no more, for a headache disorder is granted.
- Partly granted
The appeal of the issue of whether new and relevant evidence has been submitted to warrant readjudication of entitlement to service connection for sterility is dismissed.,Service connection for a depressive disorder as secondary to service-connected bilateral hearing loss is granted.
- Granted
Service connection for OSA is granted. The appeal pertaining to the issue of entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 10 percent for tinnitus is dismissed. An initial compensable rating for hearing loss is denied. The remaining issues are remanded.
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