The Veteran's lung and heart conditions are remanded for further examination to determine if they are related to his in-service asbestos exposure.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner will assess whether the Veteran’s current lung and heart disorders are at least as likely as not caused by or aggravated by his in-service asbestos exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- lung disease (claimed as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)), heart disease (claimed as coronary artery disease)
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 12, 2019
- Citation
- 19193178
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,011 · Granted: 24% (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 19193178.
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.
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