The Board finds that the Veteran's heart condition, to include only a heart murmur, is etiologically related to active service and grants this claim. The preponderance of evidence is against the claims for coronary artery disease and coronary artery bypass graft.
The deciding factor: The January 2018 opinion from the Veteran's private physician found a nexus between his current heart murmur and the murmur listed on his 1975 Report of Medical Examination, combined with credible lay statements and testimony, are of at least equal probative value to the March 2017 and May 2017 VA examiners' negative nexus opinions.
- Claimed conditions
- heart murmur, coronary artery disease, coronary artery bypass graft
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 9, 2018
- Citation
- 1828428
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 1828428.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an increased rating for coronary artery disease is being remanded due to the inadequacy of a previous VA examination.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for coronary artery disease, hypertension, and stroke as there was no evidence of herbicide agent exposure during service and the medical opinions were against a nexus to service.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claim for coronary artery disease with myocardial infarction is granted on a presumptive basis due to exposure to herbicide agents during his active duty in Korea.
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