Entitlement to an earlier effective date of July 11, 2024 for the award of service connection for prostate cancer is granted.,Entitlement to an earlier effective date of July 11, 2024 for the award of service connection for bone metastases, to include as secondary to prostate cancer, is granted.,Entitlement to an earlier effective date of July 11, 2024 for the award of special monthly compensation (SMC) based on housebound criteria is granted.,Entitlement to an earlier effective date of February 27, 2023 for the award of a 20 percent disability rating for lumbar radiculopathy of the right lower extremity, to include diabetic peripheral neuropathy, peripheral polyneuropathy, and paresthesia of the feet, is granted.,Entitlement to an earlier effective date of February 27, 2023 for the award of a 20 percent disability rating for lumbar radiculopathy of the left lower extremity, to include diabetic peripheral neuropathy, peripheral polyneuropathy, and paresthesia of the feet, is granted.
The deciding factor: The effective date for the award of service connection for prostate cancer was assigned as July 11, 2024 based on receipt of an Intent to File within one year of separation from service.,The effective date for the award of service connection for bone metastases is also July 11, 2024 because it is secondary to the primary disability (prostate cancer).,SMC was granted based on housebound criteria starting from July 11, 2024 due to a combined rating of at least 60 percent for service-connected disabilities.,The effective date for the increased disability ratings for lumbar radiculopathy is February 27, 2023 as it was within one year of receipt of a request for higher-level review and appeal to the Board.,The effective dates for the lumbar radiculopathy are also February 27, 2023 due to continuous pursuit of claims since February 27, 2023.
- Claimed conditions
- prostate cancer, bone metastases
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- March 4, 2026
- Citation
- A26019527
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 A26019527.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for diabetes mellitus, prostate cancer, visual impairment, hypertension, and erectile dysfunction due to lack of exposure to herbicide agents during service. The Veteran's claims were not granted.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for prostate cancer, bone cancer, and lymph node cancer has been granted. The prostate cancer is presumed due to herbicide agent exposure during service at RTAFB Takhli. Bone cancer is secondary to the service-connected prostate cancer. Lymph node cancer is also considered secondary to prostate cancer.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for diabetes mellitus, prostate cancer, ischemic heart disease, right lower extremity peripheral artery disease, left lower extremity peripheral artery disease, and hypertension as the evidence did not establish an in-service event or exposure to herbicide agents.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has granted service connection for prostate cancer but remanded the claim for PTSD due to insufficient verification of stressor incidents.
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