Citation Nr: 21064524
Decision Date: 10/20/21	Archive Date: 10/20/21

DOCKET NO. 16-25 733
DATE: October 20, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served in the U.S. Army from February 1969 to December 1971.  This matter comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a rating decision of the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The Board remanded the case to the AOJ for additional development in June 2018, and the case has been returned to the Board for appellate review.  Unfortunately, for reasons outlined below, the Board finds that another remand is in order to afford the Appellant every consideration. 

Entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death is remanded.

The death certificate of the Veteran shows that he died in August 2011, and the cause of death was hemorrhagic stroke, hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.  There were no conditions listed as contributing to the cause the Veteran's death.  The Appellant, who is the Veteran's surviving spouse, has asserted that the cause of death is etiologically related to inservice herbicide exposure and/or radiation exposure.  As noted, the Board remanded this case to develop the claims of herbicide exposure and radiation exposure, but neither were substantiated.  The Board notes, however, that alternatively, service connection may be established for the cause of death being directly related to service or as being manifest within a year of separation from service.  Combee v. Brown, 34 F.3d 1039, 1043-1044 (Fed.Cir.1994), reversing in part Combee v. Principi, 4 Vet. App. 78 (1993).

A review of the service treatment records shows that on the Veteran's separation examination, his blood pressure was recorded as 138/96.  There is no medical opinion of record providing an opinion on whether the Veteran's cause of death from hemorrhagic stroke, hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, was etiologically directly related to service to include the blood pressure finding on separation.  Moreover, the death certificate indicates that an autopsy was performed.  

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

1. After securing the appropriate medical release, obtain and associate with the record a copy of the Veteran's autopsy report.  The AOJ must make two attempts to obtain the report or make a formal finding that a second request for such records would be futile.  All development efforts should be associated with the record.

2. Then, obtain a VA medical opinion from a VA examiner.  The record must be made available to and reviewed by the examiner.  The examiner should specifically respond to the following questions:

With regard to each of the causes of death listed on the Certificate of Death (hemorrhagic stroke, hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease), the examiner should provide an opinion as to whether it is more likely than not, less likely than not, or at least as likely as not, that each of those listed conditions had its clinical onset during service, manifested within a year of service or is related to any in-service disease, event, or injury, to include the blood pressure reading of 138/96 on the separation examination.  

The examiner should provide a complete rationale for all opinions expressed and conclusions reached.  

 

 

S. L. Kennedy

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	J. Connolly, Counsel

The Board's decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.