The Board denied the appellant's claim for DIC under 38 U.S.C.A. § 1318 based on hypothetical entitlement, as such claims are excluded from consideration.
The deciding factor: VA regulations prohibit 'hypothetical' determinations in cases where a veteran is not entitled to benefits due to lack of service-connected disability or unemployability during his lifetime.
- Claimed conditions
- heart disability
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 16, 2006
- Citation
- 0640305
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,242 · Granted: 26% (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 0640305.
What this means for you
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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The Veteran's hypertension was granted service connection effective August 10, 2022. The heart disability was granted secondary to the hypertension.,An initial rating of 30% for the heart disability was granted in May 2023 and increased to 60% since October 22, 2024.
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The Board has granted service connection for a heart disability, finding that it is secondary to the Veteran's service-connected PTSD.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for cervical spine disability, heart disability, and rheumatoid arthritis due to procedural errors in obtaining necessary medical opinions.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for bilateral hearing loss, heart disability, sleep apnea, asthma, and chronic bronchitis as new and relevant evidence was not received to reopen these claims. The Veteran did not have current diagnoses of asthma or chronic bronchitis during the appeal period.
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