The Veteran withdrew his appeal on the claim of service connection for valvular heart disease with atrial fibrillation, including as secondary to stage 4 B cell lymphoma.
The deciding factor: The Veteran submitted a VA Form 21-4138 withdrawing his appeal before the decision was made.
- Claimed conditions
- valvular heart disease with atrial fibrillation, stage 4 B cell lymphoma
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 7, 2020
- Citation
- 20065314
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,240 · Granted: 28% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 20065314.
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for valvular heart disease with atrial fibrillation due to a need for an addendum opinion regarding the etiology of the diagnosed heart disorders, specifically addressing direct causation.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed all appeals for service connection as the Veteran died before a decision could be made.
- Denied
The Board found that the Veteran's valvular heart disease with atrial fibrillation was not related to his service, particularly his in-service gonorrhea infection. The condition was first diagnosed many years after service and is unrelated to any event or injury during service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's current valvular heart condition is being remanded for further examination and consideration due to the need for a VA examination to determine if it is related to service, specifically his treatment of gonorrhea in service.
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