The Veteran's service-connected diabetes is found to be the cause of his cerebrovascular accidents (strokes), and therefore, service connection for the residuals of CVA is granted.
The deciding factor: The evidence is in relative equipoise regarding whether the Veteran’s strokes are due to his service-connected diabetes, leading to a grant of service connection on a secondary basis.
- Claimed conditions
- Cerebrovascular accident (CVA)
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 6, 2019
- Citation
- 19116446
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,429 · Granted: 29% (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 19116446.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected unspecified anxiety disorder caused substance abuse, which in turn led to his cerebrovascular accident (CVA), tonic-clone seizures, anoxic brain damage, right upper extremity (RUE) tremors, and left upper extremity (LUE) tremors. The Board granted service connection for these conditions.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for a heart disability, CVA, and acquired psychiatric disability as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected conditions but denied increased ratings for hypertension, migraine headaches, status post anal fistulotomy, decreased visual acuity with diplopia associated with Graves' disease, and Graves' disease.
- Denied
The Board denied the Appellant's claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, as the evidence did not support a finding that his CVA or other conditions were related to his military service.
- Granted
The Veteran's death was caused by squamous cell carcinoma, which is service-connected on a direct basis due to exposure to Agent Orange. The Board grants an effective date of November 1, 2018 for DIC benefits.
Free starter guide for your own claim
Reading this because you were denied or under-rated? Get the plain-English next steps — your appeal options, the deadline that protects you, and how appeals like yours turn out. One email, no spam.
We will only use this to send the guide. No spam, unsubscribe any time. We never sell your information.
We are not the VA. Veterans’ Rights is an independent resource built for veterans. We are not the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, not part of the government, and not endorsed by any government agency.
This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.