The veteran's heart disease is found to be aggravated by his service-connected pulmonary disease, warranting secondary service connection. The veteran also meets the criteria for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
The deciding factor: The veteran's service-connected pulmonary disease has resulted in aggravation of his heart disease, meeting the requirements for secondary service connection under VA regulations.
- Claimed conditions
- heart disease, pulmonary osteoarthropathy with pulmonary congestion, clubbed digits, and emphysema
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 60%
- Decision date
- January 27, 2006
- Citation
- 0602488
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 108 · Granted: 15% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0602488.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for artery disease, COPD, diabetes, and heart disease due to potential exposure to herbicide agents during his active duty.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was not service-connected, and he did not have the required wartime service for pension benefits.
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