The Board denied service connection for congestive heart failure, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and a bilateral eye condition as they are not shown to be causally or etiologically related to any disease, injury, or incident during service.
The deciding factor: The evidence does not support a finding that the Veteran's CHF, GERD, and eye conditions were caused by his military service, including in-service exposure to herbicide agents.
- Claimed conditions
- Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), Bilateral Eye Condition
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 20, 2025
- Citation
- 25006831
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.
- Granted
The Board granted a 10 percent evaluation for the Veteran's GERD, finding that his condition is productive of daily medications to control dysphagia and is otherwise asymptomatic.
- Denied
The Board denied earlier effective dates for the grant of service connection and increased evaluations for GERD, sinusitis, allergic rhinitis, and TBI.
- Partly granted
The Board denied earlier effective dates for service connection and increased ratings, except for a granted 30 percent rating for headache disability.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for headaches and right hand strain, increased the ratings for PTSD, bilateral hearing loss, dyshidrotic eczema, and hypertension, and denied service connection for Parkinsonism, pes planus/flat feet, GERD, tinea versicolor, allergic rhinitis, and tinnitus. The Board also granted a TDIU.
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