The Board has determined that the veteran's current diagnoses of congestive heart failure and hypertension are not related to his military service, including a systolic murmur he had during service. The preponderance of evidence does not support a finding of service connection for these conditions.
The deciding factor: There is no medical opinion linking the veteran's current diagnoses of congestive heart failure and hypertension to an in-service heart murmur or any other incident of service, and there is no objective evidence of such a condition during service. The gap of over two decades between the veteran's separation from service and his first documented diagnosis of these conditions also militates against a finding that they are related to service.
- Claimed conditions
- Congestive Heart Failure, Hypertension
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 28, 2007
- Citation
- 0705680
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 0705680.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim of service connection for hypertension, finding that it did not manifest during service and is not causally related to the Veteran's exposure to herbicides or service.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for hypertension, finding that there was no evidence of a nexus between his current condition and active duty service or herbicide exposure.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for hypertension and has remanded the issue of an increased rating for skin condition.
- Granted
The Board has restored the Veteran's 10% rating for hypertension effective December 1, 2025 and denied a rating in excess of 10%. The reduction from 10% to noncompensable was not proper.
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