The Board has remanded the earlier effective date claims for all service-connected disabilities, including diabetic nephropathy with hypertension, proliferative diabetic retinopathy, diabetes mellitus type II with erectile dysfunction, peripheral neuropathies, and chronic ischemic heart disease. The appeal is related to the timing of when these conditions were granted as service connected.
The deciding factor: The Board found that additional development was needed to locate missing records from the 1980s and 1990s which may contain earlier claims for Agent Orange exposure or other disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- diabetic nephropathy with hypertension, proliferative diabetic retinopathy; right eye with profound visual impairment, neovascular glaucoma, pseudophakia and left eye proliferative diabetic retinopathy, diabetes mellitus type II with erectile dysfunction, clinical peripheral neuropathy; left lower extremity, peripheral neuropathy; right lower extremity, peripheral neuropathy; left upper extremity, peripheral neuropathy; right upper extremity, chronic ischemic heart disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 7, 2019
- Citation
- 19184437
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,549 · Granted: 29% (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 19184437.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The appeal for special monthly pension (SMP) based on the need for regular aid and attendance or housebound status is remanded to ensure that the appellant receives every possible consideration, including a new VA examination.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities prevent him from securing or following a substantially gainful occupation, and he is granted a total disability rating based on individual unemployability.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for lumbar spine condition, including bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy and right shoulder condition but denied earlier effective dates for the claims of entitlement to an earlier effective date for service connection for diabetes mellitus type II with erectile dysfunction, peripheral neuropathy, left lower extremity, sciatic nerve, and peripheral neuropathy, right lower extremity, sciatic nerve.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities, including peripheral neuropathy and diabetes, have been found to preclude him from securing and maintaining all forms of substantially gainful employment.
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