The Board denied the Veteran's requests for earlier effective dates for service connection of various conditions, including coronary artery disease and diabetes mellitus type II with complications such as cataracts, hypertension, and peripheral neuropathy. The effective date was fixed at July 27, 2014.
The deciding factor: The liberalizing regulation extending presumptive service connection due to herbicide agent exposure did not apply retroactively because the Veteran's claims were final decisions prior to its implementation.
- Claimed conditions
- coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus type II, bilateral anterior cataracts, hypertension, diabetic peripheral neuropathy, left lower extremity, diabetic peripheral neuropathy, right lower extremity, diabetic peripheral neuropathy, left upper extremity, diabetic peripheral neuropathy, right upper extremity
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19165835
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,020 · Granted: 19% (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 19165835.
What this means for you
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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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for diabetes mellitus type II with erectile dysfunction was denied as the evidence did not show that he had been diagnosed and manifested to at least a 10 percent disability rating on or prior to May 8, 2001.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection are being remanded due to the need for additional development, including VA examinations.
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