The Board denied an earlier effective date for the award of service connection for diabetes mellitus type II, hypertension, and congestive heart failure and cardiomyopathy with automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator prior to August 10, 2022.
The deciding factor: The evidence did not support direct exposure or presumptive exposure to herbicide agents during the Veteran's service in Thailand, and the PACT Act effective date of August 10, 2022, is the earliest possible effective date for these claims.
- Claimed conditions
- diabetes mellitus type II, hypertension, congestive heart failure and cardiomyopathy with automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 21, 2025
- Citation
- A25016006
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 237 · Granted: 39% (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 A25016006.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for diabetes mellitus type II with erectile dysfunction was denied as the evidence did not show that he had been diagnosed and manifested to at least a 10 percent disability rating on or prior to May 8, 2001.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection are being remanded due to the need for additional development, including VA examinations.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for additional development due to conflicting opinions regarding service connection for peripheral neuropathy, hypertension, and skin disabilities related to herbicide exposure.
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