The Board has granted service connection for a heart disability, finding that it is secondary to the Veteran's service-connected PTSD.
The deciding factor: The June 2025 private examiner opined that the Veteran's heart disorder was secondary to his PTSD and provided multiple medical articles supporting this causal relationship.
- Claimed conditions
- heart disability, valvular disease, cardiomyopathy, chest pain, right atrial enlargement, dilative cardiomegaly, mitral valve condition, tricuspid valve condition, aortic valve condition, pulmonary valve condition
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 23, 2026
- Citation
- A26038301
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 A26038301.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's hypertension was granted service connection effective August 10, 2022. The heart disability was granted secondary to the hypertension.,An initial rating of 30% for the heart disability was granted in May 2023 and increased to 60% since October 22, 2024.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his appeals for all issues related to posttraumatic headache, insomnia, left ankle condition, lumbosacral strain (lower back), and chest pain. The appeal was dismissed as the Veteran requested withdrawal of these claims.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for TBI, back strain, chest pain, foot pain, and tendonitis as there is no evidence of disease or injury incurred during active duty or training.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for service connection on the issues of chest pain, ear condition, vaginosis, syncope, thyroid condition, and jaw condition have been dismissed due to non-jurisdictional procedural defects. The Board has also remanded the claims for service connection on the issues of occipital neuralgia, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) for further development.
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