The Board has remanded the case for additional development, including a VA cardiovascular examination to determine if the veteran's congenital heart disease worsened during service. The claim will be reconsidered based on the new evidence.
The deciding factor: The medical opinion is needed to determine whether the veteran's preexisting heart condition worsened due to active duty service.
- Claimed conditions
- atrial septal defect
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 15, 2006
- Citation
- 0604340
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.
- Granted
The Board granted an effective date of January 25, 2019, for the award of service connection for atrial septal defect.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for both atrial septal defect and bilateral deuteranopia, finding that these conditions are congenital defects not aggravated by military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the Veteran's claim for service connection for a heart condition, to include supraventricular arrhythmia, valvular heart disease, and atrial septal defect, as there has not been substantial compliance with previous remand directives.
- Dismissed
The Board found no clear and unmistakable error in the 1976 decision denying service connection for organic heart disease, as the correct facts were known at the time and there was no evidence of aggravation during service.
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