The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for cause of death and entitlement to Dependency and Indemnity Compensation due to a duty to assist error related to toxic exposure risk activities (TERA) participation during service.
The deciding factor: The PACT Act requires VA to provide a medical opinion regarding the relationship between TERA participation and disability, if evidence is not sufficient for service connection. The Board finds this duty has not been satisfied.
- Claimed conditions
- septic shock, pneumonitis, malignant thymoma
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 2, 2026
- Citation
- A26030012
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 A26030012.
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 Board has determined that a remand is necessary to correct a pre-decisional duty to assist error and obtain a new medical opinion regarding the relationship between the Veteran's service, his death, and any service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of death due to lack of evidence showing a link between any service-connected disability and the Veteran's death. The conditions listed on his death certificate were not related to his military service.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for the cause of his death, finding that there was no evidence linking any of the immediate or contributing causes of his death to his period of active duty service. The Board also found that the PACT Act did not apply in this case as the Veteran served prior to the period when herbicide agents were presumed used.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's causes of death, including Agent Orange exposure and contaminated water exposure at Camp Lejeune. The appellant is free to highlight post-decisional evidence for the benefit of the examiner.
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