The Veteran's claim for service connection for a heart condition, including atrial fibrillation and coronary artery disease, secondary to herbicide exposure in Panama, is being remanded due to insufficient evidence regarding his claimed exposure.
The deciding factor: The VA Regional Office (RO) denied the Veteran’s claim because there was no evidence of Agent Orange exposure in Panama. The Board has decided that more information is needed from the U.S. Army and Joint Services Records Research Center (JSRRC).
- Claimed conditions
- heart atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- Burn pits / airborne hazards
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 9, 2019
- Citation
- 19153108
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,836 · Granted: 31% (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 19153108.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an increased rating for coronary artery disease is being remanded due to the inadequacy of a previous VA examination.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for coronary artery disease, hypertension, and stroke as there was no evidence of herbicide agent exposure during service and the medical opinions were against a nexus to service.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claim for coronary artery disease with myocardial infarction is granted on a presumptive basis due to exposure to herbicide agents during his active duty in Korea.
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