The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for a heart disability and bilateral eye disability, both potentially related to herbicide agent exposure during service. The claims will be reviewed with additional medical examinations to determine if these disabilities are related to service.
The deciding factor: The claims were remanded due to insufficient evidence regarding whether the Veteran's current diagnoses of heart and eye disabilities are related to his presumed exposure to herbicide agents in Vietnam.
- Claimed conditions
- heart disability, bilateral eye disability
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Burn pits / airborne hazards
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 23, 2020
- Citation
- 20005530
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 a heart disability as the evidence did not support that it began during active service or was related to an in-service injury.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for an initial rating higher than 30 percent for the service-connected heart disability to correct an error by the AOJ in not informing the Veteran of his right to a pre-decisional hearing.
- Partly granted
The veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions were denied, except for tinnitus and bilateral hearing loss disability which were granted. The veteran was also granted service connection for hypertension.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for bronchial asthma, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and a heart disability associated with the appellant's service in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War. The remaining claims were remanded to correct pre-decisional errors.
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