The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to herbicide exposure, including for cardiomyopathy, high blood pressure, multiple melanomas, and PTSD. The VA is instructed to obtain all outstanding medical records from private providers and VA facilities.
The deciding factor: The decision was based on the need to obtain additional relevant medical evidence before a final determination can be made.
- Claimed conditions
- cardiomyopathy, high blood pressure, multiple melanomas
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Burn pits / airborne hazards
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 9, 2019
- Citation
- 19136143
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 19136143.
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.
- 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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issues of service connection for hypothyroidism, diabetes type II, high blood pressure, insomnia disorder, and sleep apnea due to a duty to assist error and because these conditions may be secondary to the Veteran's already service-connected condition of hypothyroidism.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for arthritis of all joints from head to toe, sleep apnea, prostate cancer, high blood pressure, a right knee disability, and a left knee disability as there was no evidence of current diagnoses or etiological relationships to the Veteran's service.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for obstructive sleep apnea, bilateral cataracts, dry eye syndrome, allergic conjunctivitis, valvular heart disease, cardiomyopathy, and atrial fibrillation as the evidence did not support a finding that these conditions were incurred in or caused by an in-service event.
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