The Board granted an effective date of April 6, 2011 for the grant of service connection for the cause of death due to ischemic heart disease. The Veteran served in Vietnam and died from a covered herbicide disease (ischemic heart disease). As the claim was filed more than one year after the August 31, 2010 effective date of the liberalizing law adding ischemic heart disease to the list of diseases presumptively associated with exposure to herbicides, an earlier effective date is not warranted. The Board found that the appellant's claim was reviewed at her request more than a year after the effective date and granted an effective date one year prior to the filing of her claim.
The deciding factor: The claim for service connection for ischemic heart disease due to exposure to herbicides in Vietnam was filed more than one year after the August 31, 2010 effective date of the liberalizing law adding ischemic heart disease to the list of diseases presumptively associated with exposure to herbicides. The Board found that an earlier effective date is not warranted under these circumstances.
- Claimed conditions
- cause of death: unspecified cause not otherwise specified, ischemic heart disease
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- August 21, 2018
- Citation
- 18127827
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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 18127827.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board allowed the benefit or issue identified in this decision. Review the original order: other issues in the same appeal may have a different outcome, and this decision does not predict another claim.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a heart condition, including ischemic heart disease. The evidence did not support a finding of a current disability related to service.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied service connection for diabetes mellitus, prostate cancer, ischemic heart disease, right lower extremity peripheral artery disease, left lower extremity peripheral artery disease, and hypertension as the evidence did not establish an in-service event or exposure to herbicide agents.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's claim for a heart disability prior to his death is granted as he was entitled to accrued benefits due to the September 1994 claim, which included ischemic heart disease, a covered herbicide disease.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's ischemic heart disease is granted as service connected due to presumed exposure to herbicide agents while serving aboard the USS Intrepid within 12 nautical miles of the Republic of Vietnam.
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