The Board remands the claim for a VA examination to address whether the Veteran's peripheral vascular disease is related to his in-service exposure to herbicide agents and/or caused or aggravated by his service-connected diabetes mellitus type II and hypertension.
The deciding factor: The examiner's opinion was found inadequate due to its reliance on the fact that PVD has not been recognized as presumptively related to herbicide exposure, and because it did not consider risk factors for PVD in the Veteran's medical history.
- Claimed conditions
- hardened arteries (diagnosed as peripheral vascular disease)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 12, 2021
- Citation
- 21062788
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.
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