The Board has remanded the case due to non-compliance with previous directives and needs further examination to determine if the Veteran's cause of death was related to long-term tobacco use alone, as well as addressing the private medical opinions from T.V., M.D.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner is needed to address the etiology of the Veteran’s causes of death (acute myocardial infarction and ASCVD) and consider the September 2014 and October 2018 private medical opinions from T.V., M.D.
- Claimed conditions
- acute myocardial infarction, ASCVD
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- December 9, 2019
- Citation
- 19192386
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,188 · Granted: 23% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 19192386.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for an addendum opinion regarding the Veteran's cause of death, specifically addressing whether in-service toxic exposures led to hypertension and ultimately caused his death.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, as there was no evidence linking his conditions to his active-duty service.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, specifically related to in-service exposure to ionizing radiation.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his acute myocardial infarction, pulmonary fibrosis, congestive heart failure, and arterial hypertension were not related to his military service.
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