The Board has granted service connection for hypertension pursuant to the PACT Act and for bilateral pes planus. Service connection for hypertension on a basis other than pursuant to the PACT Act is remanded due to duty to assist error.
The deciding factor: A VA medical opinion is needed regarding whether the current hypertension is directly related to service, including herbicide agent exposure during service in Vietnam, or caused by or aggravated by the service-connected diabetes mellitus.
- Claimed conditions
- Hypertension, Right pes planus, Left pes planus
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 13, 2023
- Citation
- 23056007
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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 23056007.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
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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