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Board of Veterans' Appeals · Legacy series

Entitlement to service connection for bilateral dry eye syndrome is granted.

January 30, 2026Citation Nr. 26001433Docket 13-16 829va.gov source

  • bilateral dry eye syndromeGranted
  • heart disability, to include hypertension, hypertensive heart disease, bradycardia, and valvular heart diseaseDenied
DecisionAnalysis

Board reasoning

The Board found a current bilateral dry eye syndrome linked to in-service eye surgery, resolving doubt in the Veteran's favor and granting service connection. For the heart disabilities, the Board weighed in-service chest pain and elevated readings against a causal link, relying on post-service diagnoses and multiple probative medical opinions to conclude the conditions were not incurred in or caused by service.

Issues

  • bilateral dry eye syndromeGranted
  • heart disability, to include hypertension, hypertensive heart disease, bradycardia, and valvular heart diseaseDenied

Authorities

  • Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268Remand for compliance; cited as controlling precedent on remand handling.
  • Dyment v. West, 13 Vet. App. 141Cites for substantial compliance with remand orders.
  • Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163Governs three-element test for service connection.
  • Nieves-Rodriguez v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 295Supports evaluation of medical opinions on nexus.
  • Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F.3d 1372Notes the need for medical expertise to diagnose complex conditions.
  • Grantham v. Brown, 114 F.3d 1156Addresses downstream elements and appeal scope.

Extracted with gpt-5-nano-2025-08-07. Citations are kept only when they appear in the decision text.