The Veteran's service connection for painful, unstable scars of the chest, scar of the chest, and scars from vein harvest surgery are denied as they were not present prior to January 14, 2013.,The Veteran's claim for a 100 percent schedular rating for coronary artery disease is denied.
The deciding factor: The effective dates for service connection of the Veteran’s scars and coronary artery disease are fixed at the date entitlement arose (January 14, 2013) as they were not present prior to this date.
- Claimed conditions
- Painful, unstable scars of the chest, Scar of the chest, Scars, status post vein harvest of the left lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- January 24, 2020
- Citation
- 20005986
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,374 · Granted: 19% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 20005986.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran was rendered unemployable as of May 21, 2013, solely due to his multiple service-connected disabilities and this has continued unabated since that point in time.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's chest scar has been evaluated as noncompensable since the grant of service connection. The VA examiner found no deep, unstable, or painful scars that would warrant a compensable evaluation under applicable diagnostic codes.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's headaches are at least as likely as not caused by his service-connected traumatic brain injury, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
- Whole decision: 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.
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