The Board has determined that the appellant's claim for service connection for the cause of her husband's death is not well-grounded, as there is no evidence to support a finding that any service-connected disability caused or contributed substantially or materially to his demise.
The deciding factor: The Board concluded that the appellant did not meet the initial evidentiary requirements for a well-grounded claim due to lack of competent medical evidence linking the veteran's fatal conditions to active service, presumptive exposure, or service-connected disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- decompensated congested heart failure, pneumonia, adenocarcinoma of the right lung
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 10, 2000
- Citation
- 0003561
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 0003561.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for pneumonia, diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), and asthma as causes of death. The evidence did not support finding that these conditions were related to his service-connected disabilities.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, and pneumonia due to insufficient evidence in the record. The Veteran's current diagnoses are not supported by the medical records provided.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for the cause of his death, finding that there was no evidence linking any of the immediate or contributing causes of his death to his period of active duty service. The Board also found that the PACT Act did not apply in this case as the Veteran served prior to the period when herbicide agents were presumed used.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for service connection for left ankle disability, chronic sinusitis, bronchitis, and pneumonia are remanded due to the need for additional development including VA examinations.
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