The Board denied the claim for an earlier effective date for the grant of service connection for right eye aphakia and postoperative cataract removal, finding that the decision was final due to lack of appeal or new and material evidence within one year. The Veteran's next claim for service connection was filed on July 21, 2010.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the November 1985 rating decision was the last final disallowance of the Veteran’s right eye disability claim, and the grant of service connection in 2010 was not based on additional service records not before VA in November 1985.
- Claimed conditions
- right eye aphakia, postoperative cataract removal
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 22, 2019
- Citation
- 19180150
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 882 · Granted: 17% (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 19180150.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's right eye aphakia has resulted in complete blindness, and he is now entitled to a 40 percent rating for this condition.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a left eye cataract and granted an increased rating of 40 percent for right eye aphakia, but did not grant SMC based on blindness of the right eye.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection for a right eye disability was denied in October and November 1985. The next claim for service connection was filed on July 21, 2010. The Board finds that the effective date of July 21, 2010 is proper as there were no additional relevant records associated with the claims file at the time of the earlier denials.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for further development, including a new VA eye examination and the obtaining of any outstanding VA treatment records.
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