The Board has decided to remand the case for further development due to incomplete records and unclear service connection.
The deciding factor: There are gaps in the medical and personnel records that need to be addressed to determine if the veteran's surgery was related to his ACDUTRA period of service.
- Claimed conditions
- rheumatic heart disease, status post aortic and mitral valve replacement with chronic atrial fibrillation
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 13, 2006
- Citation
- 0638793
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 0638793.
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.
- Partly granted
The veteran's claim for service connection for rheumatic heart disease was granted. The claim for hypertensive vascular disease was remanded.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for total disability due to individual unemployability for the period prior to March 7, 2011 based on his service-connected rheumatic heart disease and left knee degenerative changes.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected rheumatic heart disease renders him unemployable and he is granted a total disability rating based on individual unemployability.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a heart disorder, finding that there was no clear and unmistakable evidence of aggravation during service and that any non-rheumatic heart disease conditions did not manifest within one year of separation from service.
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