The Board granted service connection for retinopathy as secondary to hypertension, resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor. The issue of a right eye condition other than retinopathy was remanded.
The deciding factor: The evidence is approximately balanced as to whether the Veteran's retinopathy is due to his service-connected hypertension; however, resolving all reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran, service connection for hypertensive retinopathy is warranted. The Board also found that a remand was necessary to address whether the Veteran's choroidal nevus could be a congenital disease or defect.
- Claimed conditions
- retinopathy, right eye disability other than retinopathy
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- May 22, 2025
- Citation
- 25006991
What this means for you
A partial grant means some issues were granted while others were denied or remanded — common in multi-issue claims. Look at which issues went which way, and how each was argued.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for eye disabilities, to include retinopathy, bilateral nuclear cataracts, bilateral dermatochalasis, dry eye, and pinguecula, as the prior VA medical opinion regarding aggravation was found to be conclusory and lacked necessary medical reasoning.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for increased ratings for a service-connected heart condition and retinopathy to correct duty to assist errors related to obtaining private treatment records.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for hypertension prior to August 10, 2022, and remanded the issue of service connection for retinopathy and dry eye syndrome.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II, retinopathy secondary to the non-service-connected diabetes mellitus, type II, stroke secondary to the non-service-connected diabetes mellitus, type II, a psychiatric disorder (previously claimed as depression), and a pre-existing head injury.
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