The Veteran's service-connected disabilities, including ischemic heart disease, PTSD with depressive features, diabetes mellitus, and bilateral lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, do not prevent him from securing or following a substantially gainful occupation.
The deciding factor: The combined disability rating of 80% does not meet the schedular criteria for TDIU as one disability must be rated at least 40%, with sufficient additional disability to bring the combined rating to 70%. The Veteran's disabilities do not preclude him from multiple areas of employment.
- Claimed conditions
- Ischemic heart disease, Posttraumatic stress disorder with depressive features, Diabetes mellitus, Diabetic peripheral neuropathy of the right and left lower extremities, Bilateral sensorineural hearing loss
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 80%
- Decision date
- January 23, 2020
- Citation
- 20005493
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,030 · 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 20005493.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an initial rating of 30 percent prior to July 18, 2014, and a higher than 60 percent rating thereafter for ischemic heart disease is being remanded due to incomplete evidence. The examiner needs to provide more detailed information about the severity of his service-connected condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for an earlier effective date and increased rating for ischemic heart disease due to a failure by the AOJ to request SSA records, which were not available.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for payment or reimbursement of ambulance travel expenses incurred on June 17, 2025 due to an emergency heart attack. The ambulance service was provided by a volunteer organization and later intercepted by a higher-tier EMT company.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for ischemic heart disease and myocardial infarction, status post stent placement, as well as obstructive sleep apnea, finding that the Veteran's current conditions are related to his military service.
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