The Board has granted an effective date of August 31, 2010 for the award of service connection for coronary artery disease due to presumed exposure to herbicide agents in Vietnam. The decision is based on the Veteran's initial claim filed in June 2002 and subsequent evidence showing ischemic heart disease as early as March 2005.
The deciding factor: The effective date was fixed at August 31, 2010 due to the addition of ischemic heart disease (presumed exposure to herbicide agents) to the list of diseases subject to presumptive service connection for veterans exposed to certain herbicide agents in Vietnam.
- Claimed conditions
- coronary artery disease, ischemic heart disease
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Gulf War
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 9, 2020
- Citation
- 20065865
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,604 · Granted: 65% (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 20065865.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a heart condition, including ischemic heart disease. The evidence did not support a finding of a current disability related to service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an increased rating for coronary artery disease is being remanded due to the inadequacy of a previous VA examination.
- Granted
The Veteran's ischemic heart disease is granted as presumptively related to his service in the Gulf War, specifically aboard the USS Chanticleer and USS Mataco.
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