The Board granted service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II (DMII) as secondary to PTSD with substance use disorder, finding that the Veteran's DMII is aggravated beyond its natural progression by his service-connected PTSD and SUD.
The deciding factor: The November 2024 VA examiner indicated that excessive alcohol use, consistent with the Veteran's SUD, is known to cause diabetes complications because alcohol interferes with the release of glucose from the liver and can increase the risk of low blood sugar which is dangerous to a person who has diabetes and is already taking insulin or some other diabetes medications to lower blood sugar.
- Claimed conditions
- diabetes mellitus, type II (DMII)
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 12, 2025
- Citation
- 25002138
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,242 · Granted: 27% (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 25002138.
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 Board has granted service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II (DMII), as secondary to a service-connected disability. The decision resolves reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran and finds that his obesity is due, at least in part, to his service-connected musculoskeletal disability.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claims for DMII, bilateral lower extremity diabetic peripheral neuropathy, and bowel resection are granted. The claim for OSA is denied.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II (DMII) with bilateral lower extremity neuropathy and hypertension due to a lack of evidence linking these conditions to his active duty service. The Board found that there was no exposure to herbicide agents during service and that the Veteran did not have any in-service onset or relationship between his current conditions and his military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has dismissed the appeals for increased evaluations of hypertension and tinnitus. The appeal for service connection for DMII is remanded due to a duty-to-assist error.
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