The Veteran's death was caused by cardiopulmonary arrest and arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, which are subject to presumptive service connection for Veterans exposed to herbicide agents. The Board has ordered a remand to determine if the Veteran was exposed to herbicide agents during his service.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's military records do not confirm exposure to herbicide agents due to lack of credible evidence regarding daily work duties and performance evaluations near the air base perimeter.
- Claimed conditions
- cardiopulmonary arrest, arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 16, 2020
- Citation
- 20003744
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 service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death as there was no evidence linking any of the listed conditions to his military service.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, as there was no evidence to support a finding that his cardiopulmonary arrest, metastatic brain disease, or metastatic small cell carcinoma were related to his active duty service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the appeal to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors and to satisfy any statutory or regulatory duty that could aid in substantiating the claim, specifically related to asbestos exposure under the PACT Act.
- Remanded (sent back)
The appeal for service connection of the Veteran's death to his military service is remanded. The Board needs more medical records from Archbold Medical Center.
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