The Veteran's heart disabilities, including supraventricular arrhythmia, ventricular arrhythmia, valvular heart disease, heart valve replacement, cardiomyopathy, implanted cardiac pacemaker, and aortic aneurysm, are being remanded for further evaluation due to the need for clarification on their etiology.
The deciding factor: The Board requested additional medical opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's heart disabilities, particularly whether they clearly and unmistakably pre-existed service or were related to service exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- supraventricular arrhythmia, ventricular arrhythmia, valvular heart disease, heart valve replacement, cardiomyopathy, implanted cardiac pacemaker, aortic aneurysm
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 27, 2021
- Citation
- 21070936
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 21070936.
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 Veteran's claims for increased ratings for valvular heart disease, peripheral vascular disease of the right and left legs, and hypertension were denied. The Board found that the evidence did not support higher ratings under the applicable rating criteria.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for aortic aneurysm secondary to his service-connected hypertension, squamous cell cancer of the skin, and benign prostatic hyperplasia. The issues of entitlement to compensable ratings for hypertension and colon cancer residuals are also remanded due to potential impact on the issue of a 10 percent evaluation based on multiple noncompensable service-connected disabilities.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for an initial rating higher than 30 percent for cardiomegaly with cardiac hypertrophy and valvular heart disease has been dismissed due to the appellant withdrawing the appeal.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has identified errors in the rating decision and is remanding the case for further development to ensure all relevant evidence is considered.
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