The Veteran's claim for service connection for hypertension, to include as due to herbicide exposure, is remanded. A VA opinion is needed to determine the etiology of the Veteran’s hypertension.
The deciding factor: The most recent Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 11 (2018) by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine found sufficient evidence of an association for hypertension and exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides used during the Vietnam War. The VA examiner's opinion based on outdated medical literature is insufficient.
- Claimed conditions
- Hypertension
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- May 10, 2019
- Citation
- 19136549
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,726 · Granted: 19% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 19136549.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim of service connection for hypertension, finding that it did not manifest during service and is not causally related to the Veteran's exposure to herbicides or service.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for hypertension, finding that there was no evidence of a nexus between his current condition and active duty service or herbicide exposure.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for hypertension and has remanded the issue of an increased rating for skin condition.
- Granted
The Board has restored the Veteran's 10% rating for hypertension effective December 1, 2025 and denied a rating in excess of 10%. The reduction from 10% to noncompensable was not proper.
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