The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for pulmonary hypertension and ischemic heart disease as secondary to service-connected PTSD due to insufficient opinions regarding whether these conditions are aggravated by his service-connected PTSD.
The deciding factor: The VA examiners did not provide adequate opinions on whether the service-connected PTSD aggravates the Veteran’s current pulmonary hypertension and IHD, warranting further examination.
- Claimed conditions
- pulmonary hypertension, ischemic heart disease
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 5, 2020
- Citation
- A20015193
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.
- Partly granted
The Board grants service connection for tinnitus, finding that the Veteran's tinnitus began during his period of active duty service. The claims for ischemic heart disease, aortic valve replacement, status post aortic stenosis, and peripheral vascular disease with popliteal aneurysm are remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the case to obtain a new medical opinion regarding the Veteran's ischemic heart disease, as the previous opinions were found inadequate.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for pulmonary hypertension as secondary to the Veteran's already service-connected idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection of a heart condition, to include ischemic heart disease and/or cardiomyopathy due to cardiac amyloidosis, for further development.
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