The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date prior to March 25, 1997 for service connection of coronary artery disease due to lack of evidence showing a claim was filed before that date.
The deciding factor: The Veteran did not file a formal or informal claim for CAD prior to March 25, 1997 and there is no evidence in the claims file supporting his contentions regarding filing a claim in 1970 or 1971. The effective date was assigned based on the date of receipt of the claim (March 25, 1997) as it is later than the date entitlement arose.
- Claimed conditions
- coronary artery disease
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 28, 2020
- Citation
- 20070016
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.
- Dismissed
The appeal for a compensable rating for left ear hearing loss, service connection for right ear hearing loss, and bilateral vision condition was dismissed. Service connection for hypertension, congestive heart failure, and coronary artery disease was denied.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for obstructive sleep apnea, diabetes mellitus, type II, left eye diabetic retinopathy, left foot diabetic peripheral neuropathy, right foot diabetic peripheral neuropathy, and coronary artery disease, as well as the Veteran's cause of death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for coronary artery disease to correct duty to assist errors, as there are no adequate medical opinions of record.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected coronary artery disease, vascular headaches, and cerebrovascular accident with left eye vision problem rendered him unable to secure and follow substantially gainful employment from April 1, 2015 to May 28, 2018.
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