The Board has determined that the VA opinions are inadequate and remands for further development, including obtaining an addendum medical opinion from a VA examiner to address the Veteran's claims for service connection for CAD and cardiac arrhythmia as secondary to PTSD, hypertension as secondary to PTSD, and a CNS disability as secondary to CAD and cardiac arrhythmia. The TDIU claim is also remanded.
The deciding factor: The Board finds that the previous VA opinions are inadequate and do not substantially comply with the prior Board remand directives regarding service connection for CAD and cardiac arrhythmia as secondary to PTSD, hypertension as secondary to PTSD, and a CNS disability as secondary to CAD and cardiac arrhythmia. The examiner is instructed to provide an opinion on causation and aggravation of these conditions by PTSD.
- Claimed conditions
- CAD (Coronary Artery Disease), Cardiac Arrhythmia, Hypertension, Central Nervous System (CNS) disability
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 6, 2021
- Citation
- 21062171
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 3,038 · Granted: 30% (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 21062171.
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 the claim of service connection for hypertension, finding that it did not manifest during service and is not causally related to the Veteran's exposure to herbicides or service.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for hypertension, finding that there was no evidence of a nexus between his current condition and active duty service or herbicide exposure.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for hypertension and has remanded the issue of an increased rating for skin condition.
- Granted
The Board has restored the Veteran's 10% rating for hypertension effective December 1, 2025 and denied a rating in excess of 10%. The reduction from 10% to noncompensable was not proper.
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