The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date and increased rating for service-connected coronary artery disease was denied. The Board found that the earliest effective date of August 31, 2010 is appropriate due to the liberalizing law change regarding ischemic heart disease (IHD)/coronary artery disease being added to the list of diseases presumed to be caused by exposure to an herbicide agent such as Agent Orange. The Veteran's claim for a higher rating was also denied because his coronary artery disease did not meet the criteria for a 30% or higher disability rating prior to November 20, 2014 and 60% thereafter.
The deciding factor: The effective date of service connection cannot be earlier than August 31, 2010 due to the liberalizing law change. The Veteran's coronary artery disease did not meet the criteria for a higher disability rating as defined by VA regulations.
- Claimed conditions
- coronary artery disease
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 16, 2020
- Citation
- 20073208
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,797 · Granted: 20% (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 20073208.
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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.
- 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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for coronary artery disease, hypertension, and stroke as there was no evidence of herbicide agent exposure during service and the medical opinions were against a nexus to service.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claim for coronary artery disease with myocardial infarction is granted on a presumptive basis due to exposure to herbicide agents during his active duty in Korea.
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