The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for PVD of both lower extremities, finding that there is no evidence to support a direct relationship between his current condition and military service or herbicide exposure. The Board also found insufficient evidence to establish secondary service connection due to his service-connected coronary artery disease (CAD).
The deciding factor: The VA examiners provided negative nexus opinions for both direct and secondary service connection, citing the Veteran's long-standing history of smoking, overweight condition, hypercholesterolemia, and lack of records showing PVD during service.
- Claimed conditions
- Peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD) of the left lower extremity, Peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD) of the right lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 10, 2020
- Citation
- 20046466
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 20046466.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date of April 29, 2005, for the grant of service connection for peripheral vascular disease (PVD) of both lower extremities and denied increased ratings for PVD from August 25, 2005, to July 6, 2006, with a rating of 20 percent granted from July 7, 2006, to July 6, 2007. The Board also denied an effective date prior to August 25, 2015, for the grant of special monthly compensation (SMC) based on housebound status.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for PVD of the right and left lower extremities, secondary to service-connected coronary artery disease (CAD), effective from the date of the decision.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for PVD of the bilateral lower extremities due to inadequate rationale in a previous VA medical opinion. The case requires further development, including obtaining another VA addendum medical opinion from a different examiner.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for PVD of the bilateral lower extremities due to insufficient evidence and incomplete examinations. The Veteran asserts that his PVD is related to in-service herbicide exposure or caused by his service-connected CAD.
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