The Veteran's diabetes mellitus, type II, is currently rated at 10 percent and the Board denied a higher rating.,The Veteran's hypertension is currently rated at 10 percent. The Board found that it more nearly approximated this level of disability throughout the appeal period.,The Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for service connection of IHD, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus, type II were denied as they were not received before the applicable liberalizing laws took effect.,The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for his service-connected diabetes mellitus was denied because it was filed after the May 8, 2001 law that added diabetes to the list of presumptively related conditions.
The deciding factor: The criteria for a higher rating under DC 7913 were not met as the Veteran's diabetes required only restricted diet management.,The evidence showed that the Veteran’s hypertension was predominantly at 160/70 or above, which approximated the criteria for a 10 percent rating.,There is no earlier claim record for IHD and hypertension prior to May 3, 1989, and diabetes mellitus type II was not received before August 30, 2018.,The Veteran's diabetes mellitus type II claim was filed after the effective date of the law adding it to presumptively related conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- diabetes mellitus, type II, hypertension, ischemic heart disease (IHD)
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 16, 2020
- Citation
- 20067220
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 715 · Granted: 43% (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 20067220.
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