The Board has granted an effective date of December 1, 2005 for the award of DIC based on service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death. The new service department records obtained in October 2015 were relevant and supported a favorable nexus opinion.
The deciding factor: The new service treatment records provided evidence that was instrumental in proving or disproving a matter at issue, triggering an earlier effective date based on 38 C.F.R. § 3.156(c).
- Claimed conditions
- heart disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 19, 2026
- Citation
- A26024822
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 A26024822.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's hypertension was granted service connection effective August 10, 2022. The heart disability was granted secondary to the hypertension.,An initial rating of 30% for the heart disability was granted in May 2023 and increased to 60% since October 22, 2024.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for a heart disability, finding that it is secondary to the Veteran's service-connected PTSD.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for cervical spine disability, heart disability, and rheumatoid arthritis due to procedural errors in obtaining necessary medical opinions.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for bilateral hearing loss, heart disability, sleep apnea, asthma, and chronic bronchitis as new and relevant evidence was not received to reopen these claims. The Veteran did not have current diagnoses of asthma or chronic bronchitis during the appeal period.
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