The Board has determined that the Veteran's bilateral lower extremity peripheral neuropathy is at least as likely as not caused by his service-connected diabetes mellitus type II, and thus grants service connection for this condition on a secondary basis.
The deciding factor: The medical evidence is in relative equipoise regarding whether the Veteran’s diabetic neuropathy was related to his service-connected DMII, with some opinions suggesting it was due to alcohol use and others linking it to agent orange exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral lower peripheral neuropathy
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 12, 2019
- Citation
- 19117634
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,350 · Granted: 26% (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 19117634.
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 claims for service connection and increased ratings were granted, with effective dates of March 13, 2017. The SMC claim was denied.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities do not meet the threshold requirements for VR&E services as he has successfully maintained self-employment and does not have an employment handicap.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to inadequate development, specifically requiring an addendum opinion from a VA examiner regarding whether the Veteran's bilateral lower extremity peripheral neuropathy is related to her service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has granted service connection for hypertension and remanded the remaining issues due to insufficient evidence.
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