The Board remands the claim for a heart disability to the AOJ for an addendum medical opinion addressing whether the Veteran's service-connected PTSD with persistent depressive disorder and alcohol use disorder caused or aggravated his heart disabilities.
The deciding factor: The June 2025 VA medical opinion is inadequate as it does not address the relationship between the Veteran's PTSD with persistent depressive disorder and alcohol use disorder and his heart disabilities, nor does it discuss whether his heart disabilities were caused by sleep impairment associated with his acquired psychiatric disorders.
- Claimed conditions
- Heart disability, including acute, subacute, or old myocardial infarction; arteriosclerotic heart disease (coronary heart disease); supraventricular arrhythmia (supraventricular tachycardia); automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator (AICD); valvular heart disease; and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) stent
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 13, 2025
- Citation
- A25098723
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