The Board has remanded the case due to conflicting medical opinions regarding the Veteran's heart conditions and their relation to service. The VA examiner is requested to provide an opinion on whether any service-related heart disability contributed substantially or materially to death.
The deciding factor: Medical conflicts in the record remain, including differing diagnoses of CAD and myocardial infarction, cardiomyopathy, right-sided heart failure, atrial fibrillation, cor pulmonale, and high output heart failure. The VA examiner is requested to provide an opinion on whether any service-related heart disability contributed substantially or materially to death.
- Claimed conditions
- CAD, myocardial infarction, cardiomyopathy, right-sided heart failure, atrial fibrillation, cor pulmonale
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 4, 2019
- Citation
- 19124947
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 appeal regarding the Veteran's entitlement to an initial compensable evaluation for atrial fibrillation is remanded due to unclear evidence on whether continuous medication is required for its control.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for chronic kidney disease, atrial fibrillation, hiatal hernia, COPD, and prostate cancer as a result of toxic exposure during the Veteran's military service.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including tension headaches, bilateral plantar fasciitis, and a bilateral hearing loss disability. The Board also denied an initial compensable rating for the Veteran's headache disability.
- Partly granted
The appeal was granted for the severance of service connection for hypertension and entitlement to service connection for a heart disability (claimed as cardiomyopathy) associated with hypertension. The claim for an initial compensable rating for hypertension was remanded.
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