BVA9504356 DOCKET NO. 93-13 263 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Boston, Massachusetts THE ISSUE Entitlement to service connection for heart disease and hypertension. REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: Disabled American Veterans ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Robert A. Leaf, Counsel INTRODUCTION The veteran served on active duty from October 1942 to December 1945. An October 1992 decision of the Boston, Massachusetts, Regional Office (RO) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) denied service connection for heart disease and hypertension. This appeal to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) stems from that rating decision. CONTENTIONS OF APPELLANT ON APPEAL The veteran and his representative contend, in substance, that heart disease and hypertension are related and adjunct to a service-connected nervous condition. DECISION OF THE BOARD The Board, in accordance with the provisions of 38 U.S.C.A. § 7104 (West 1991), has reviewed and considered all of the evidence and material of record in the veteran's claims file. Based on its review of the relevant evidence in this matter, and for the following reasons and bases, it is the decision of the Board that the veteran has not met the burden of presenting a well-grounded claim for service connection for heart disease and hypertension. FINDING OF FACT The claim for service connection for heart disease and hypertension is not plausible. CONCLUSION OF LAW The veteran has not submitted evidence of a well-grounded claim for service connection for heart disease and hypertension. 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 1101, 1110, 1112, 1113, 5107 (West 1991), 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309, 3.310 (1993). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The threshold question to be answered in this case is whether the appellant has presented a well grounded claim, i.e., one which is plausible. If he has not, the claim must fail and there is no further duty to assist in the development of the claim 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107; Murphy v. Derwinski, 1 Vet.App. 78 (1990). A well-grounded claim requires more than an allegation; the claimant must submit supporting evidence. Furthermore, the evidence must justify a belief by a fair and impartial individual that the claim is plausible. Tirpak v. Derwinski, 2 Vet.App. 609 (1992). As will be explained below, we find that this claim is not well grounded. The veteran is service-connected for psychoneurosis, which was evaluated as 10 percent disabling from December 1945 until March 1981, and which was thereafter rated as 30 percent disabling. Service medical records are negative for cardiovascular disorders or for elevated blood pressure readings. The first postservice medical evidence of a cardiovascular disorder was elevated blood pressure readings recorded by VA in 1978 and 1979, more than 30 years after the veteran had completed active duty. Thereafter, findings indicative of heart disease were first noted on VA electrocardiographic examination in 1992, more than 45 years after the veteran had completed military service. Where, as here, the determinative issue is one of medical causation, competent medical evidence is required to establish a well-grounded claim. Grottveit v. Brown, 5 Vet.App. 91 (1993). The veteran's assertion is the only evidence linking current heart disease and hypertension to his service-connected psychoneurosis. As a lay person, he is not competent to offer a medical opinion. Espiritu v. Derwinski, 2 Vet.App. 492 (1992). No competent medical evidence has been presented showing that heart disease or hypertension is etiologically related to service-connected psychoneurosis. No credible evidence has been provided to demonstrate that heart disease or hypertension had its onset in service as would be required for a grant of service connection on a direct basis under 38 U.S.C.A. § 1110 (West 1991), that either disorder was present to compensable degree within one year of the veteran's separation from service as would be required for a grant of service connection on a presumptive basis under 38 U.S.C.A. §§1101, 1112, 1113 (West 1991); 38 C.F.R. §§3.307, 3.309 (1993), or that either disorder is causally related to service-connected psychoneurosis as would be required for a grant of service connection on a secondary basis under 38 C.F.R. § 3.310 (1993). As previously noted, a claimant must submit supporting evidence that justifies a belief by a fair and impartial individual that the claim is plausible. As such evidence has not been presented, the claim is not well grounded. ORDER The claim of entitlement to service connection for heart disease and hypertension is dismissed. D. C. SPICKLER Member, Board of Veterans' Appeals The Board of Veterans' Appeals Administrative Procedures Improvement Act, Pub. L. No. 103-271, § 6, 108 Stat. 740, ___ (1994), permits a proceeding instituted before the Board to be assigned to an individual member of the Board for a determination. This proceeding has been assigned to an individual member of the Board. NOTICE OF APPELLATE RIGHTS: Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7266 (West 1991), a decision of the Board of Veterans' Appeals granting less than the complete benefit, or benefits, sought on appeal is appealable to the United States Court of Veterans Appeals within 120 days from the date of mailing of notice of the decision, provided that a Notice of Disagreement concerning an issue which was before the Board was filed with the agency of original jurisdiction on or after November 18, 1988. Veterans' Judicial Review Act, Pub. L. No. 100-687, § 402 (1988). The date which appears on the face of this decision constitutes the date of mailing and the copy of this decision which you have received is your notice of the action taken on your appeal by the Board of Veterans' Appeals.