The Veteran's chest pain is being remanded for further examination to determine if it is related to his service-connected atrial septal defect.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the specific question of whether the Veteran’s service connected disability caused the nerve damage was not directly addressed and requires further medical evaluation.
- Claimed conditions
- chest area nerve damage
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 11, 2019
- Citation
- 19153533
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,020 · Granted: 19% (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 19153533.
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 service connection for chest area nerve damage, finding that it is not proximately due to or aggravated by his service-connected atrial septal defect surgical repair.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient evidence regarding whether the Veteran's service-connected atrial septal defect and sternotomy scar have aggravated his costochondritis, which is causing his chest pain.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's headaches are at least as likely as not caused by his service-connected traumatic brain injury, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
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