The Veteran's claim for service connection for diabetes mellitus, to include as secondary to exposure to herbicide agents during military service, was denied.,The Veteran's claim for service connection for a skin condition, to include as secondary to exposure to herbicide agents during military service, was also denied.
The deciding factor: The evidence did not establish herbicide agent exposure in Thailand and the preponderance of the evidence is against finding that diabetes mellitus began in-service or within one year of separation from service.,The Veteran's current skin condition could be due to a wide variety of insults (tropical, internal, environmental) and are difficult to originate to his military service time.
- Claimed conditions
- diabetes mellitus, skin condition
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 18, 2019
- Citation
- 19130001
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for hypertension and diabetes mellitus to obtain further medical opinions regarding their potential relationship to toxic exposures during active service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for right foot, left elbow, left hip, left ankle, and diabetes mellitus to obtain additional medical evidence.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a skin condition, finding that the evidence does not support a link between the Veteran's current skin conditions and his military service.
- Partly granted
The veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions were denied, except for tinnitus and bilateral hearing loss disability which were granted. The veteran was also granted service connection for hypertension.
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