The Veteran's hypertension and COPD with shortness of breath are not service connected as they did not begin during active duty or are otherwise related to an in-service injury, event, or disease. The Gulf War presumption of service connection under 38 U.S.C. § 1117 and 38 C.F.R. § 3.317 does not apply.
The deciding factor: The evidence does not show that the Veteran's COPD with shortness of breath began during active duty or is otherwise related to an in-service injury, event, or disease.
- Claimed conditions
- Hypertension, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) with shortness of breath
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 22, 2020
- Citation
- 20068634
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,762 · Granted: 24% (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 20068634.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
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Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for hypertension and has remanded the issue of an increased rating for skin condition.
- Granted
The Board has restored the Veteran's 10% rating for hypertension effective December 1, 2025 and denied a rating in excess of 10%. The reduction from 10% to noncompensable was not proper.
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