Granted
The Board granted an earlier effective date of October 17, 2019, for the award of service connection for hypertension and hypertensive heart disease based on a private medical opinion linking these conditions to in-service herbicide exposure.
The deciding factor: The private physician's opinion was found to be highly probative as it considered all pertinent evidence and provided a complete rationale connecting the Veteran's conditions to his in-service exposure to herbicides.
- Claimed conditions
- hypertension, hypertensive heart disease with right bundle branch block, status post aortic valve replacement for aortic aneurysm
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 5, 2025
- Citation
- A25096068
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