The Veteran's heart disability, including arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation, cardiomyopathy, and AICD placement, is being remanded for further examination to determine if it is related to his service-connected herbicide exposure.
The deciding factor: The Board found that a VA medical opinion was needed to address the nature and etiology of the Veteran's heart disability due to potential herbicide exposure during service.
- Claimed conditions
- heart disability, arrhythmia, atriial fibrillation, cardiomyopathy, AICD placement
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 3, 2019
- Citation
- 19190428
Veterans Law Judge
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 19190428.
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 Board has remanded the issues of service connection for atrial fibrillation, benign prostatic hypertrophy with outflow obstruction, congestive heart failure, and hypertension due to inadequate VA opinions. The Veteran's exposure during service is conceded to include asbestos and gas chamber exposures.
- Granted
The Veteran's hypertension was granted service connection effective August 10, 2022. The heart disability was granted secondary to the hypertension.,An initial rating of 30% for the heart disability was granted in May 2023 and increased to 60% since October 22, 2024.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for a heart disability, finding that it is secondary to the Veteran's service-connected PTSD.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient consideration of secondary service connection for coronary artery disease (CAD) related to the Veteran's service-connected foot disability and depression.
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