The Veteran's heart disease and diabetes have prevented him from engaging in substantially gainful activity since the effective date of service connection, but further development is needed to assess his occupational functioning during the period at issue.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the Veteran did not engage in substantially gainful employment during the period at issue due to his heart disease and diabetes, requiring a VA medical opinion on their impact on his ability to perform sedentary work.
- Claimed conditions
- coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus, type II
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 28, 2020
- Citation
- 20069759
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 3,217 · Granted: 46% (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 20069759.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his appeal regarding the claims for sleep apnea and an increased disability rating for diabetes mellitus, type II.
- 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 Board has granted service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II, as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected PTSD. The decision finds that the Veteran's diabetes mellitus, type II is proximately due to his service-connected PTSD.
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