The Board has remanded the case due to further development being required, including a VA medical opinion on whether the Veteran's endocarditis is related to his presumed in-service exposure to herbicide agents.
The deciding factor: Further development is needed as per previous directives and a VA medical opinion is necessary to determine if the Veteran’s endocarditis is etiologically related to his presumed in-service exposure to herbicide agents.
- Claimed conditions
- endocarditis
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Burn pits / airborne hazards
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 16, 2020
- Citation
- 20073312
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.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the claims for service connection for shortness of breath, endocarditis, lipoma, and skin cancer as the Veteran withdrew his appeal. The claim for peripheral arterial disease was denied due to a lack of evidence supporting a current diagnosis. Service connection for a back condition was also denied due to insufficient evidence linking it to service.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for myelodysplastic syndrome/leukemia, anemia, and hemochromatosis with effective dates of May 7, 2018, June 27, 2019, and June 27, 2019 respectively. The Board also denied service connection for endocarditis, myocarditis, and obstructive sleep apnea.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for hypertension and denied it for ischemic heart disease. Several other claims were remanded for further development.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a medical opinion addressing whether the Veteran's left eye condition is related to service, as it found that the condition did not preexist service.
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