The Veteran's heart condition, including ischemic heart disease, hypertensive heart disease, coronary artery disease, heart block, and atrial arrhythmia, is granted as service-connected due to herbicide agent exposure. The Veteran's stroke with paralysis is also granted as secondary to his service-connected heart condition. Service connection for right lower extremity neuropathy and right upper extremity neuropathy are denied. An earlier effective date for the award of service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus is denied.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the Veteran's current diagnoses, including ischemic heart disease, hypertensive heart disease, coronary artery disease, heart block, and atrial arrhythmia, were related to his in-service herbicide agent exposure. The stroke with paralysis was also determined to be secondary to his service-connected heart condition.
- Claimed conditions
- heart condition, hypertensive heart disease, coronary artery disease, heart block, atriial arrhythmia
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- May 28, 2019
- Citation
- 19141009
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,680 · Granted: 24% (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 19141009.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
- 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.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim of service connection for PTSD was granted with an initial evaluation of 50 percent, effective September 24, 2007. The appeal regarding the heart condition and sleep disorder is denied. The Veteran's hearing loss prior to August 24, 2015, warrants a 20 percent rating.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an increased rating for coronary artery disease is being remanded due to the inadequacy of a previous VA examination.
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