The Board has determined that the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death should be remanded to obtain an opinion regarding whether his acquired psychiatric disorder, likely PTSD, was related to service and if so, whether it caused or aggravated his heart condition. The Board also needs to determine if the Veteran's alcohol abuse is secondary to his acquired psychiatric disorder.
The deciding factor: The claim requires additional medical opinions on the relationship between the Veteran’s acquired psychiatric disorder (likely PTSD) and his heart condition as well as the potential aggravation of his alcoholism by his psychiatric disorder.
- Claimed conditions
- atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease, chronic alcoholism
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 31, 2019
- Citation
- 19107558
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.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease was caused by his service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, which was chronic alcoholism.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, as there was no evidence that a disability incurred in or aggravated by service caused or contributed substantially to his death.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was not caused or contributed to by service-connected disabilities, and therefore his cause of death is denied.
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