The Board has granted the Veteran's application to reopen his claim for service connection for hypertension. Service connection is also granted for hypertension. The Board has remanded the issues of service connection for peripheral neuropathy of bilateral upper and lower extremities, as well as right carpal tunnel syndrome.
The deciding factor: The Board found that new evidence supports reopening the hypertension claim due to a December 2017 opinion letter by Dr. J.C., who opined it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran's hypertension is related to his active service, including presumed herbicide exposure in Vietnam.
- Claimed conditions
- Hypertension, Peripheral neuropathy of bilateral upper extremities, Peripheral neuropathy of bilateral lower extremities, Right carpal tunnel syndrome
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Gulf War
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 15, 2019
- Citation
- 19162958
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,030 · Granted: 17% (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 19162958.
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 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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