Erectile dysfunction decisions — 2009

The Veteran is eligible for vocational and rehabilitation services under the provisions of Chapter 31, Title 38, United States Code beyond March 23, 2006.

The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions, including hypertension, peripheral neuropathy, cardiovascular heart disease, vitiligo, and erectile dysfunction, all secondary to his service-connected diabetes mellitus. The appeal was not about service connection at all.

The Veteran's service-connected disabilities do not render him incapable of securing and maintaining substantially gainful employment.

The Veteran's service-connected disabilities are of such severity as to preclude him from securing and following some form of substantially gainful employment consistent with his education and work experience, warranting a total rating for compensation purposes based on individual unemployability.

The Board finds that the preponderance of the evidence is against a finding that the Veteran's erectile dysfunction and peripheral neuropathy, left upper extremity are proximately due to or related to his service-connected diabetes mellitus, type II.

The Board has determined that the Veteran's erectile dysfunction is not proximately due to or the result of his service-connected PTSD, and therefore denied the claim for service connection.

The Veteran's erectile dysfunction is found to be a result of his service-connected diabetes. The claim for increased initial ratings for coronary artery disease, status-post coronary bypass graft, is remanded due to outstanding records and the need for further examination.

The Veteran's erectile dysfunction is being remanded for further development due to the need for a medical opinion regarding its etiology.

The Board found that the Veteran's hypertension, erectile dysfunction, and hiatal hernia with GERD did not exist prior to his second period of active service (2004-2006) and were not aggravated by such service. The conditions are therefore not service-connected.

The Board found that there is no evidence of a direct service connection for hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and erectile dysfunction. The Veteran's current conditions were not shown to be related to his active military service or any service-connected disability.

The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for additional development, including VA examinations and obtaining SSA records.

The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for further development, including obtaining medical opinions regarding the relationship between his service-connected diabetes mellitus and/or presumed Agent Orange exposure and his claimed disabilities.

The Veteran's claim for increased ratings and service connection were denied. The Board found that the evidence did not support a compensable rating for erectile dysfunction.

The Veteran's initial claim for increased ratings for prostate cancer and erectile dysfunction associated with brachytherapy was granted. The prostate cancer rating is set at 10 percent from April 15, 2004, and 40 percent as of July 28, 2005. The erectile dysfunction rating remains noncompensable.

The Veteran's claim for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities is being remanded for further action, including determining whether his diabetes mellitus should continue to be rated as a service-connected disability and adjudicating a claim for type I diabetes mellitus.

The Board has determined that further action is needed to determine the current severity of the Veteran's service-connected disabilities and whether he has a current diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy. The claims are being remanded for additional examinations and development.

The Veteran's claims for higher evaluations of peripheral neuropathy and erectile dysfunction have been granted, but the maximum benefits were not awarded.

The Veteran seeks a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities. The Board has determined that additional development is needed, including obtaining Social Security Administration records and arranging for an examination.

The Veteran's service-connected diabetes mellitus, type II and erectile dysfunction were both denied as the evidence did not support a higher rating.