The Board remands the issues of entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death and entitlement to dependency and indemnity compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1318 due to a duty to assist error regarding obtaining a medical opinion on the etiology of the Veteran's causes of death.
The deciding factor: The Board finds that remand is required to correct a duty to assist error that occurred prior to the rating decision on appeal, specifically, the failure to obtain a medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's cardiopulmonary arrest and atrial fibrillation were related to his service, including exposure to Agent Orange.
- Claimed conditions
- Cardiopulmonary arrest, consequent to congestive heart failure, Atrial fibrillation
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 27, 2025
- Citation
- A25046742
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 Board granted service connection for congestive heart failure with implanted pacemaker, bradycardia, valvular heart disease, and atrial fibrillation, secondary to the Veteran's service-connected hypertension.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding no evidence linking his death to his military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board is remanding the claim for service connection of the Veteran's cause of death due to a lack of adequate medical evidence regarding the potential nexus between atrial fibrillation and in-service exposure, as well as other service-connected disabilities.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder, obstructive sleep apnea as secondary to PTSD, atrial fibrillation as secondary to hypertension, and congestive heart failure with cardiomyopathy and ventricular hypertrophy as secondary to hypertension.
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