The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for a heart disorder and diabetes mellitus, both to include as due to ionizing radiation exposure. The AOJ is instructed to consider these claims under the provisions of 38 C.F.R. § 3.311(b)(4) and obtain a dose estimate.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's private and VA treatment records provided positive opinions linking his heart disorder and diabetes mellitus to ionizing radiation exposure during service, despite the conditions not being radiogenic diseases.
- Claimed conditions
- Heart Disorder, Diabetes Mellitus
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 8, 2020
- Citation
- 20065518
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 increased ratings for diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and a psychiatric disability due to insufficient evidence of the severity required for higher ratings.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for an earlier effective date for his diabetes mellitus, a higher rating for PTSD with alcohol use disorder, and a total disability rating due to service-connected disabilities.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for a heart disability, diabetes mellitus, and peripheral neuropathy of the lower extremities, but denied service connection for multiple tooth trauma.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the case to obtain a medical opinion addressing whether the Veteran's service-connected PTSD caused or aggravated his cardiovascular diseases, which were listed as contributing causes of death.
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