The Board has decided that a VA examination is needed to determine the nature and etiology of any current heart disorder/disease, including whether it is related to service or secondary to sleep apnea.
The deciding factor: Service connection may be granted for disability which is proximately due to or the result of a service-connected disease or injury. The Veteran needs an examination to establish if his current heart condition is related to service or secondary to his service-connected sleep apnea.
- Claimed conditions
- heart disorder/disease
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 5, 2020
- Citation
- 20031440
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 20031440.
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 Veteran's claims for additional development and examination to determine the nature and etiology of any current heart disorder/disease, psychiatric disorder, hypertension, or headache disorder. The appeal is not about service connection at all.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the veteran's claimed conditions are not related to his period of service and thus denied all claims for service connection.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's headaches are at least as likely as not caused by his service-connected traumatic brain injury, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
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