The Board denied entitlement to accrued benefits, including an earlier effective date for service connection for coronary artery disease and adjustment disorder.
The deciding factor: No claim for monetary benefits was pending at the time of the Veteran's death, and the earliest claim for CAD was filed in 2015, which is after the Veteran's heart attack in 2008. The effective date cannot be assigned prior to the date of claim.
- Claimed conditions
- Coronary artery disease (CAD), Adjustment disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 25, 2025
- Citation
- A25027207
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.
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The Board granted the eligibility of attorneys A.B.J., E.G., and S.D. to receive direct payment of fees from past due benefits awarded in a June 2024 rating decision granting service connection for coronary artery disease, but remanded the issue of the reasonableness of the amount of attorney fees.
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