The Board has remanded the case due to non-compliance with previous remand directives, specifically regarding obtaining an October 1982 Agent Orange examination report. The Veteran died from hypertensive cardiomyopathy and was not service-connected for this condition at the time of his death.
The deciding factor: The AOJ needs to locate the October 1982 Agent Orange examination report or provide a formal finding of unavailability.
- Claimed conditions
- hypertensive cardiomyopathy
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 3, 2019
- Citation
- 19142457
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,092 · Granted: 42% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted 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. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 19142457.
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 Veteran's claims for a higher rating for hypertensive cardiomyopathy and TDIU are being remanded due to the need for updated VA treatment records and a more contemporaneous examination of his condition.
- Granted
The Veteran's hypertension was granted an initial rating of 10 percent prior to June 6, 2019. Service connection for left ventricular hypertrophy and hypertensive cardiomyopathy as due to service-connected hypertension is also granted.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that an earlier effective date for the grant of service connection for heart disability and chronic headaches is not warranted. The Veteran's claims are remanded to obtain additional medical opinions regarding the nature and etiology of his claimed conditions.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an effective date prior to April 11, 2013 for the award of service connection for hypertensive cardiomyopathy as he did not file a formal or informal claim for this condition prior to that date.
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