The Board has remanded the case due to duty-to-assist errors and a need for a medical opinion regarding the cause of death.
The deciding factor: There is insufficient evidence to determine if the Veteran's cardiopulmonary arrest was related to his active duty service, including his heart palpitations during active duty.
- Claimed conditions
- cardiopulmonary arrest, heart palpitations, paroxysmal atrial tachycardia, heart rhythm disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 8, 2019
- Citation
- A19001845
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 the Veteran's death as there was no evidence linking any of the listed conditions to his military service.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for obstructive sleep apnea, atrial fibrillation, tachycardia, and heart palpitations as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected unspecified anxiety disorder with alcohol use disorder.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, as there was no evidence to support a finding that his cardiopulmonary arrest, metastatic brain disease, or metastatic small cell carcinoma were related to his active duty service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the appeal to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors and to satisfy any statutory or regulatory duty that could aid in substantiating the claim, specifically related to asbestos exposure under the PACT Act.
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