Citation Nr: 21042643
Decision Date: 07/13/21	Archive Date: 07/13/21

DOCKET NO. 13-18 460
DATE: July 13, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for hypertension, to include as secondary to asthma, is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from November 1988 to June 1995.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from an October 2010 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).  The Board remanded the matter in September 2017, August 2020, and February 2021.

The Veteran testified at a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge in April 2017.  A transcript of the hearing is of record. 

Entitlement to service connection for hypertension is remanded.

The Veteran claims service connection for hypertension as secondary to her service-connected asthma.  See 38 C.F.R. § 3.310.  Specifically, she states that medication for her asthma has increased the severity of her hypertension.  See November 2010 VA 21-438; April 2017 Board Hearing Transcript. 

Since the Board's February 2021 remand, service connection for the Veteran's asthma has been granted.  See May 2021 Rating Decision.  In light of that grant, the Board finds that a VA medical opinion is warranted on the issue of whether medications to treat her service-connected asthma have aggravated her hypertension.  See 38 C.F.R. § 3.310(b) (providing for secondary service connection based on aggravation of a nonservice-connected condition by a service-connected disability). 

The matter is REMANDED for the following action:

Obtain a VA medical opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent probability or more) that medications to treat the Veteran's asthma, including Symbicort (Budesonide), have proximately caused or aggravated (i.e., caused an increase in severity of) her hypertension.  The opinion must be supported by a complete explanation. 

 

 

P.M. DILORENZO

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	J. Rutkin, 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 This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.