The appeal is remanded to the RO for further development and readjudication of the claim for service connection for arteriosclerotic heart disease with hypertension and congestive heart failure, to include as secondary to schizophrenia.
The deciding factor: The record does not contain a VA medical opinion that fully considers the relationship between the veteran's service-connected schizophrenia and his hypertension, and which considers the contents of the veteran's claims file. An examination is needed to determine if it is at least as likely as not that the veteran has hypertension related to his active service or a service-connected disability.
- Claimed conditions
- arteriosclerotic heart disease with hypertension and congestive heart failure
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 21, 2008
- Citation
- 0816732
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,162 · Granted: 21% (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 0816732.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal has been dismissed due to his withdrawal of the appeal for heart disease and all related issues.
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- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
- Granted
The Veteran's major depressive disorder is found to be caused by his service-connected low back and radiculopathy disabilities, which prevent him from doing enjoyable activities and daily living tasks.
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