The Board found that the veteran's valvular heart disease was not incurred due to active service, nor may it be presumed to have been incurred therein. The preponderance of evidence is against a causal relationship between his heart disease and any incident of service, including an episode of scarlet fever.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner concluded that the veteran did not have rheumatic fever during active duty when he was diagnosed with scarlet fever, and that his current valvular heart disease was not related to his in-service scarlet fever. The alternative etiological cause identified by the VA physician is primary mitral valve prolapse due to myxomatous proliferation.
- Claimed conditions
- valvular heart disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 30, 2002
- Citation
- 0218790
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 0218790.
What this means for you
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings for valvular heart disease, peripheral vascular disease of the right and left legs, and hypertension were denied. The Board found that the evidence did not support higher ratings under the applicable rating criteria.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for an initial rating higher than 30 percent for cardiomegaly with cardiac hypertrophy and valvular heart disease has been dismissed due to the appellant withdrawing the appeal.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is remanded due to the need for clarification on whether his valvular heart disease is related to his service-connected supraventricular tachycardia, and because the TDIU claim is intertwined with the increased rating claim.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to a duty-to-assist error, specifically failing to obtain a medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's valvular heart disease and coronary artery calcification is caused or aggravated by his service-connected hypertension.
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