The Board denied the Veteran's request for an effective date prior to May 7, 2021 for the grant of service connection for loss of use of the bilateral lower extremities. The award was granted based on a VA examination conducted in July 2020 and signed in August 2020, which showed that the Veteran had lost the ability to bear weight on his legs and was wheelchair bound due to service-connected Parkinson's disease.
The deciding factor: The effective date for an award of service connection is fixed based on the facts found but not earlier than the date the claim was received. In this case, the claim was received after May 7, 2021, which is when the Veteran was granted service connection and SMC.
- Claimed conditions
- loss of use of bilateral lower extremities
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- November 4, 2021
- Citation
- A21017867
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 A21017867.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's need for supervision, protection, or instruction on a continuous basis due to his service-connected disabilities has been determined, granting him an increased Level 2 stipend under the PCAFC program.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for service connection and increased ratings have been denied. Effective dates prior to July 27, 2023, are not warranted as the issues were not reasonably raised before that date.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities do not meet the criteria for a special home adaptation grant as they do not result in anatomical loss or use of both hands, blindness in both eyes, deep partial thickness burns, full thickness or subdermal burns, or residuals of an inhalation injury.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an earlier effective date for the grant of service connection for bladder incontinence but denied earlier effective dates and increased ratings for other conditions.
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