Citation Nr: 18161081
Decision Date: 12/28/18	Archive Date: 12/28/18

DOCKET NO. 16-47 333
DATE:	December 28, 2018

REMANDED

The claim of entitlement to service connection for a stroke is remanded.

The issue of entitlement to service connection for a seizure disorder is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran had active service from August 1965 to May 1967.  He died in May 2015.  The Appellant is his surviving spouse.  She has been substituted into the two service connection claims on appeal, which were pending at the time of the Veteran’s death.  

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a March 2015 decision of a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).

The issues on appeal must be remanded for two reasons. 

First, the issues are intertwined with the appellant’s July 2015 application for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC), which is still pending.  The Veteran died of heart disease for which he was service connected as 100 percent disabled since October 2013.  In granting the appellant’s claim for burial benefits, the RO recognized that the Veteran died of service-connected disability.  The claim for DIC – and the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death – should be decided prior to deciding the pending service connection claims.  

Second, an addendum medical opinion should be provided regarding whether the service-connected heart disease that caused the Veteran’s death related to a stroke and a seizure disorder.  

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

1. Decide the appellant’s July 2015 DIC claim.  

2. Obtain an addendum medical opinion addressing whether a stroke and/or a seizure disorder were secondary to service-connected heart disease.  After reviewing the claims file, the examiner should answer the following questions.  

(a). Is it at least as likely as not (i.e., probability of 50 percent or greater) that the service-connected heart disease which caused the Veteran’s death also caused a stroke and/or a seizure disorder?  

In answering (a), comment on the death certificate indicating that a seizure disorder also contributed to death along with heart disease.  

Further, address the July 2014 and March 2015 VA examination reports which indicate that myocardial infarction and endocarditis may have related to a stroke and seizure disorder.  Is it at least as likely as not that myocardial infarction and endocarditis related to coronary artery disease?  If so, is it at least as likely as not that myocardial infarction/endocarditis/coronary artery disease caused the stroke/seizure disorder?  

(b). If the answer to (a) is negative, is it at least as likely as not that service-connected heart disease aggravated a stroke disorder and/or a seizure disorder prior to death?  

Please explain in detail any opinion provided. 



 

CHRISTOPHER MCENTEE

Acting Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	A. Marsh II, Associate Counsel