The Veteran's cause of death is remanded due to the need for a medical opinion on whether his idiopathic cardiomyopathy was related to herbicide agent exposure during service.
The deciding factor: The Board finds that a medical opinion is needed to determine if the Veteran’s idiopathic cardiomyopathy is etiologically related to his conceded herbicide agent exposure in service.
- Claimed conditions
- idiopathic cardiomyopathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 10, 2018
- Citation
- 18141467
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 18141467.
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
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Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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- Remanded (sent back)
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- Granted
The Board has determined that the evidence is in equipoise as to whether the Veteran's cardiac disability, including idiopathic cardiomyopathy, atrial flutter, slow AV nodal re-entry, and supraventricular tachycardia, was caused by his service-connected diabetes mellitus. Therefore, service connection for this condition as secondary to diabetes mellitus is granted.
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