The Veteran's appeal is being remanded due to the need for additional medical opinions regarding his claims of additional heart disabilities caused by VA surgeries and aftercare. The AOJ must obtain updated treatment records, request private records, and seek an addendum opinion from a VA clinician.
The deciding factor: The decision was not clear on whether the Veteran's additional heart disabilities were foreseeable or avoidable risks of his surgeries and aftercare treatments.
- Claimed conditions
- atriial fibrillation, tear of the heart muscle, heart disability manifested in memory loss
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 16, 2020
- Citation
- 20003951
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 claims for esophageal cancer and cause of death due to atrial fibrillation, as well as prostate cancer. The remand includes obtaining additional medical opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's conditions and exposure history.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the DIC claim due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the cause of death and the relationship between service-connected conditions and the Veteran's death. The VA needs to obtain new opinions addressing these issues.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for atrial fibrillation and has remanded the issue of peripheral vascular disease (PVD) to obtain a medical opinion on whether it was aggravated by a service-connected disability or treatment.
- Denied
The Veteran's TDIU claim is denied as the appeal for TDIU based on a single service-connected disability has been rendered moot due to his already having a combined 100 percent schedular rating.
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