The Board has remanded the DIC and service connection claim due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the cause of death, potential secondary service connection for cardiac issues, and diagnoses at the time of death.
The deciding factor: The decision is based on the need for additional medical opinions addressing the specific concerns raised by the Ward v. Wilkie case.
- Claimed conditions
- respiratory failure, supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), atriial fibrillation, sick sinus syndrome, severe peripheral vascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, right middle cerebral artery stroke
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 13, 2020
- Citation
- 20073089
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,820 · Granted: 26% (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 20073089.
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 issues of service connection for atrial fibrillation, benign prostatic hypertrophy with outflow obstruction, congestive heart failure, and hypertension due to inadequate VA opinions. The Veteran's exposure during service is conceded to include asbestos and gas chamber exposures.
- Denied
The Veteran's causes of death were not found to be service-connected, as there was no credible evidence linking the conditions to his military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient consideration of secondary service connection for coronary artery disease (CAD) related to the Veteran's service-connected foot disability and depression.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for hypertension, CHF and ventricular arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation, diabetic peripheral neuropathy of the right lower extremity affecting the femoral nerve, and diabetic peripheral neuropathy of the left lower extremity affecting the femoral nerve were denied as there is no evidence that these conditions arose prior to July 31, 2024.,The effective dates for service connection for CHF and ventricular arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation, diabetic peripheral neuropathy of the right lower extremity affecting the femoral nerve, and diabetic peripheral neuropathy of the left lower extremity affecting the femoral nerve were denied as there is no evidence that these conditions arose prior to July 31, 2024.
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