The Veteran's claims for pulmonary venous hypertension, Lyme disease, and hypokalemia have been denied. The Board has found that the evidence does not support a finding of service connection for these conditions.,The Veteran's claim for cardiomyopathy is remanded due to an inadequate rationale in the previous VA opinion. A new examination is required to determine if his condition began during active service or is related to an incident of service, including documented cardiac symptoms.,The Veteran's claim for obstructive sleep apnea is also remanded as it is inextricably intertwined with his cardiomyopathy claim.
The deciding factor: The previous VA opinion did not provide a sufficient rationale regarding the onset and relationship to service for the Veteran's cardiomyopathy, which was first diagnosed 28 years after service. The examiner noted no cardiac conditions during service but the Veteran's records documented multiple instances of cardiac symptoms.
- Claimed conditions
- pulmonary venous hypertension, Lyme disease, hypokalemia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 23, 2024
- Citation
- A24068193
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,170 · Granted: 38% (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 A24068193.
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 has denied service connection for the claimed conditions, finding that they are not related to active duty service or any period of ACDUTRA/INACDUTRA service. The appellant's claims are based on secondary service connection due to a non-service-connected condition (Lyme disease), but the evidence does not support this claim.
- Granted
The Veteran's Lyme disease is granted as service connected, with evidence linking his symptoms to a tick bite during training in 2013.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's service connection claim for hypokalemia, finding no evidence that it was related to his active duty service or secondary to a service-connected disability.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for dermatophytosis (tinea pedis and onychomycosis of the foot) with a rating of 30 percent, but denied service connection for multiple other conditions including hypokalemia, bilateral pes planus, cervical spine condition, left elbow condition, left foot hallux valgus, left hand condition, left hip condition, right hip condition, pain in left shoulder joint, right elbow condition, right hand condition, left extremity sciatica, right extremity sciatica, right knee condition, stomach issues, headaches, and obstructive sleep apnea.
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