The Board has granted an earlier effective date of March 16, 2006 for the assignment of a 30 percent rating for the service-connected loss of visual field due to diabetic retinopathy (eye disability) and restored the previously assigned 20 percent rating for the service-connected right knee medial collateral ligament reconstruction (right knee disability) effective on January 23, 2001.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the increase in disability was factually ascertainable based on the record many years before the Veteran's March 2006 claim for increase and that the previously assigned rating decision did not properly reduce the 20 percent rating that had already been assigned in connection with the October 2001 rating decision.
- Claimed conditions
- diabetic retinopathy (eye disability), right knee medial collateral ligament reconstruction (right knee disability)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 20%
- Decision date
- January 8, 2014
- Citation
- 1400597
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 1400597.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's tinnitus was present during service and has a continuity of symptomatology since service. The claim for service connection for tinnitus is granted.,Service connection for left ear hearing loss, right ear hearing loss, back disability, neck disability, left shoulder disability, right shoulder disability, right elbow disability, right shin disability (shin splints), and left shin disability (shin splints) are remanded as the VA examination opinion is inadequate.,Service connection for DM is remanded as there is insufficient evidence to determine its onset during service or if it is related to any in-service exposure. Service connection for an eye disability is also remanded due to potential relationship with DM.,Service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability is remanded as the Veteran's lay statements provide sufficient evidence of a nexus between his military police duties and his current mental health conditions.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected musculoligamentous strain, right knee, is currently rated at 10 percent and the Board finds that a higher rating is not warranted.
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