The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for swallowing difficulty associated with a 1988 surgery is denied, and the rating for his painful tracheostomy scar is granted at 10 percent.
The deciding factor: There are no prior communications indicating an intent to file a claim of entitlement to compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 prior to June 7, 2006, the date of receipt of the Veteran's formal claim for compensation.
- Claimed conditions
- difficulty swallowing, painful tracheostomy scar
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- February 22, 2019
- Citation
- 19112722
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 940 · Granted: 21% (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 19112722.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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The Board granted a 30 percent disability rating for hypothyroidism and earlier effective dates for the award of service connection for difficulty swallowing and special monthly compensation, but dismissed the issue of entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a stroke, difficulty swallowing, vision disability, bilateral foot drop, memory loss, mental confusion, severe headaches, dizziness, slurred speech, and non-toxic thyroid enlargement as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected PTSD.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for sleep apnea, onychomycosis, xerosis, and difficulty swallowing to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board denied a compensable rating for right ear hearing loss and remanded several issues related to interstitial lung disease, psychiatric disability, fatigue, vertigo, muscle disability, Raynaud's phenomenon, gastrointestinal disability, difficulty swallowing, headache, skin disability, blurred vision, upper respiratory symptoms, and vertigo as secondary conditions.
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