The Board denied the veteran's request for an effective date prior to August 10, 2022, for service connection of lung nodules and special monthly compensation based on housebound criteria.
The deciding factor: The effective date for a secondary disability cannot predate the effective date for the primary disability from which it was derived.
- Claimed conditions
- lung nodules, thyroid cancer
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 8, 2025
- Citation
- A25001989
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 793 · Granted: 28% (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 A25001989.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew their appeal, so the case is dismissed.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for prostate cancer and associated residuals (claimed as testicular cancer) and thyroid cancer, finding that the evidence did not support a link to military service or exposure.
- Granted
The Veteran's hypothyroidism is granted as secondary to his service-connected thyroid cancer, which was caused by exposure to herbicide agents during his naval service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases of diabetes mellitus type II, left lower extremity peripheral neuropathy (LLE PN), right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy (RLE PN), and thyroid cancer for further development. The Veteran's claims are related to his exposure to herbicide agents at Fort McClellan (FTMC) in Anniston, AL.
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