The Board remands the Veteran's claim for service connection for a heart condition, to include supraventricular arrhythmia, valvular heart disease, and atrial septal defect, as there has not been substantial compliance with previous remand directives.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner's opinions were found inadequate due to lack of clarity on whether the Veteran's atrial septal defect is a congenital defect or disease, and for failing to provide etiology opinions for all identified heart conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- supraventricular arrhythmia, valvular heart disease, atrial septal defect
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 10, 2022
- Citation
- 22001160
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.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted a 100 percent rating for valvular heart disease based on MET testing showing that at a workload of 3 METs or less, the condition results in fatigue and breathlessness.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for obstructive sleep apnea, bilateral cataracts, dry eye syndrome, allergic conjunctivitis, valvular heart disease, cardiomyopathy, and atrial fibrillation as the evidence did not support a finding that these conditions were incurred in or caused by an in-service event.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for earlier effective dates and higher ratings for various service-connected conditions, except for a few granted evaluations.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew the appeal for service connection for supraventricular arrhythmia, chronic paronychia, psoriasis and rosacea (claimed as skin condition), pulmonary nodules, and valvular heart disease.
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