The Board denied service connection for GERD with hiatal hernia and diabetes mellitus, attributing the latter to herbicide exposure during service in Hawaii. The Veteran's claim for earlier effective dates for tinnitus and hearing loss was also denied.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found that the Veteran's current GERD is less likely as not caused by or aggravated by his military service due to lack of symptoms at discharge, while diabetes mellitus is attributed to herbicide exposure during service in Hawaii.
- Claimed conditions
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) with hiatal hernia, Diabetes mellitus
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- Gulf War
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 21, 2012
- Citation
- 1232751
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 1232751.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for payment or reimbursement of ambulance travel expenses incurred on June 17, 2025 due to an emergency heart attack. The ambulance service was provided by a volunteer organization and later intercepted by a higher-tier EMT company.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a duty to assist error, and will consider evidence submitted after the October 2024 Supplemental Statement of the Case (SSOC). The Veteran's GERD is presumed to have existed prior to service, but there is no clear and unmistakable evidence that it was not aggravated by service. The Board has requested an examination to determine if the Veteran's GERD had its onset during or is otherwise etiologically related to active-duty service.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's death was not caused by any service-connected disability, and thus denied his claim for service connection for cause of death.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities did not preclude him from obtaining or maintaining substantially gainful employment prior to September 28, 2021. From September 28, 2021 to May 22, 2022, the Veteran had a combined total disability rating of 100%, which rendered the issue moot as he was already receiving SMC based on his service-connected disabilities.
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