The Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates and initial ratings for diabetic neuropathy of the left and right lower extremities have been dismissed due to their death.
The deciding factor: The Veteran passed away during the pendency of the appeal, thus the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of these claims.
- Claimed conditions
- diabetic neuropathy of the left lower extremity, diabetic neuropathy of the right lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 19, 2020
- Citation
- 20074452
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,164 · Granted: 31% (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 20074452.
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for coronary artery disease and diabetes mellitus type II on a presumptive basis due to herbicide exposure, and also granted service connection for diabetic neuropathy of the right upper, right lower, left upper, and left lower extremities.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has granted an effective date of August 19, 2019 for the award of service connection for diabetes mellitus. The RO must now assign initial disability ratings for diabetic nephropathy (kidney disease), erectile dysfunction, and diabetic neuropathy of the lower extremities from August 19, 2019 to August 9, 2022. Effective dates prior to August 10, 2022, for service connection for these conditions are also remanded.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions, including colon cancer, sleep apnea, respiratory disability, type II diabetes mellitus, enlarged prostate, diabetic neuropathy, heart disability, and acquired psychiatric disability were denied as there was no persuasive evidence to support the assertions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the Veteran's vertigo claim. The claims for diabetes and diabetic neuropathy of the left lower extremity remain denied.
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