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case win for a veteran seeking an earlier effective date for his service-connected
coronary artery disease or CAD this veteran served on active duty from 1969 until 1971 and again from
1972 until 1975 earning the Vietnam service medal and the Vietnam campaign medal because he served
in Vietnam he was exposed to herbicides or agent orange and was later diagnosed with
coronary artery disease or CAD in 2004. VA added ischemic heart diseases which includes CAD to the
list of diseases entitled to presumptive service connection based on herbicide exposure in 2010.
in June 2015 this veteran filed for an initial claim for VA disability compensation based on
several conditions and explicitly on his form he identified hypertension stroke and diabetes
shortly after though he submitted a statement that discussed his CAD diagnosis and pointed
VA to look for additional medical records that diagnosed cats he did not put cat on
the claim form even though regulations at the time required the use of a form to file a claim
while VA was developing the claims for hypertension stroke and diabetes the comp and
Pen examiner's diagnosis veteran with cat again and so VA then gave him a cad specific CMT exam
this veteran then filed a new claim for disability compensation based on a heart condition which was
granted and awarded an effective date in December 2017 when he filed that new claim but the veteran
felt that he was entitled to an even earlier effective date for his heart condition based on
the 2015 claim that he filed listing hypertension diabetes and stroke so he filed a notice of
disagreement which appealed the reigning decision that gave him only a December 2017 effective date
VA actually did move the effective date a little bit earlier based on that appeal to December 2016
but the veteran continued his appeal arguing that he was entitled to the 2015 date ultimately the
board denied the earlier effective date so did not put the effective date any earlier than December
2016 because the veteran didn't list coronary artery disease on that claim form and as Caitlyn
just said it is a requirement that when you file a new claim you must file it and on a VA claim form
so cck took the case to court and actually represented the veteran below at the board
as well and argued that the 2015 claim form listing hypertension diabetes in
stroke actually included a claim for coronary artery disease even though that diagnosis was
an explicitly listed on the form and we made this argument based on the statements that the
veterans submitted shortly after submitting that 2015 claim form that made clear that it was his
reasonable expectation that VA would also look at the potential connection between his coronary
artery disease and his service specifically he described his coronary artery disease as an
issue issue associated with the explicitly claimed conditions of diabetes stroke and hypertension and
directed VA to evidence showing that he had been diagnosed with coronary artery disease
so when the case got to court the court actually did a board inadequately considered our arguments
deliberately construed a veterans pleading because when the board considered the veterans
claim it looked only to whether his claim form his ssoc or his nod mentioned cat but didn't
address as whether the other information that was submitted by the veteran or obtained by the
secretary included any conditions encompassed by the claims that he included on the form
nor did the board consider whether or not the symptoms of the claimed conditions overlapped
with the symptoms of CAD or whether they were part of the same body system the court determined that
the board aired in failing to address our argument that the 2015 claim remained remained pending and
unadjudicated because evidence establishing a cad diagnosis was received while the 2015 claim was
pending and ultimately here the court set aside the board's decision to deny an earlier effective
date and remanded the case back down to the board and now of course on remand is veteran will be
able to submit additional arguments and evidence as Allowed by law which the board must consider
Amy do we have any final thoughts on this case is are there any takeaways that veterans at home
could take from this yeah I think the biggest takeaway is that it's really important to list
everything on that claims form even if it seems pretty obvious to you that VA should be making the
connection between the list a condition that you have identified on the form and another condition
make sure you're listing that this veteran has now had to fight VA for years trying to
get that earlier effective date and this problem could have been avoided entirely if he had just
listed CAD on on the form I absolutely agree Amy thanks everyone for watching be sure to
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