The Board is remanding the case to obtain additional medical records and to provide a VA medical opinion regarding whether the veteran's service-connected back disability contributed to his death.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner will assess whether the veteran's service-connected back disability played any role in his death, including contributing substantially or materially to the cause of death.
- Claimed conditions
- heart conditions
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 1, 2006
- Citation
- 0637240
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 832 · Granted: 18% (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 0637240.
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 remanded the case due to inadequate medical opinions regarding service connection for heart conditions. The Veteran's lay statements and service treatment records are considered in assessing his claim.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings, TDIU, special monthly compensation, and Dependents' Educational Assistance due to insufficient evidence of a higher disability rating or unemployability.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for diabetes, heart conditions, chronic kidney disease (CKD), left and right lower extremity neuropathy, and headaches as the evidence did not support a direct relationship to the Veteran's active service.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for fibromyalgia and heart conditions, both presumptively linked to the Veteran's active service in the Southwest Asia theater of operations. The Board also granted a 70 percent disability rating for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
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