The Board has remanded the case for further development due to insufficient medical records and need for a medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's death was related to service.
The deciding factor: Medical records are needed to determine if the Veteran's conditions during service were related to his cause of death, which is not directly addressed by service connection theory as it pertains to causation rather than direct service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- cardiac arrest, pneumonia, status post cerebrovascular accident (CVA), hypertensive cardiovascular disease
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 13, 2014
- Citation
- 1450285
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 1450285.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of death due to lack of evidence showing a link between any service-connected disability and the Veteran's death. The conditions listed on his death certificate were not related to his military service.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for pneumonia, diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), and asthma as causes of death. The evidence did not support finding that these conditions were related to his service-connected disabilities.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, and pneumonia due to insufficient evidence in the record. The Veteran's current diagnoses are not supported by the medical records provided.
- Granted
The Veteran's hypertension is related to herbicide exposure during service and contributed substantially to his cause of death.,Service connection for both hypertension and the cause of death (hypertensive cardiovascular disease) is granted.
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