The Veteran's appeal for an earlier effective date for the increased rating of left lower extremity peripheral neuropathy is dismissed.,Service connection was denied for atherosclerosis of native arteries of the right and left lower extremities, as well as right and left foot hammertoes. Service connection was granted for urinary urge incontinence secondary to service-connected left lower extremity peripheral neuropathy.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date is moot because the increased rating has already been granted.,There is no evidence of current diagnoses for atherosclerosis of native arteries of the right and left lower extremities, right foot hammertoes, or left foot hammertoes. The Veteran's urinary urge incontinence was found to be secondary to his service-connected left lower extremity peripheral neuropathy.
- Claimed conditions
- Left lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, Urinary urge incontinence
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 10, 2026
- Citation
- A26012197
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 A26012197.
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's TDIU and DEA claims are remanded due to duty-to-assist errors prior to the rating decision on review. The effective date for TDIU is set at January 31, 2021, based on the last day of employment. However, the RO needs to obtain SSA records regarding earnings from July 2020 to January 31, 2021, to determine if the Veteran's employment was marginal.
- Granted
The Veteran's disability ratings for right and left upper extremity peripheral neuropathy, as well as right and left lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, were restored to their previous levels of 70%, 60%, 30%, and 30% respectively, effective from February 12, 2025.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected right and left lower extremity peripheral neuropathy are rated at 10 percent each. The Board denied entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 10 percent for both conditions.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for right and left lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, as well as an earlier effective date for ischemic heart disease. The Veteran's TDIU claim was granted prior to March 25, 2011, due to his PTSD alone. SMC at the housebound rate was also granted from February 9, 2007, through December 1, 2009.
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