The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient evidence regarding whether the Veteran's cause of death, cardiac arrest, was related to his service. The VA examiner is requested to provide an addendum opinion addressing the relevance of the shrapnel wounds during service and post-operative findings.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner needs to assess if there is a relationship between the Veteran's service-related injuries and his cause of death (cardiac arrest).
- Claimed conditions
- Cardiac arrest, Shrapnel wounds to the chest, Right coronary artery stenosis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 2, 2019
- Citation
- 19123637
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter to obtain relevant SSA records that could provide information pertinent to the Veteran's appeal.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding no evidence that a disability incurred in or aggravated by service either caused or contributed substantially to his cardiac arrest.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for the Veteran's cause of death due to cardiac arrest and brain cancer, as well as a possible contribution from his service-connected anxiety disorder.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that none of his service-connected disabilities caused or contributed to his cardiac arrest and cirrhosis of the liver.
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