The Board has reopened the appellant's claim for service connection for the cause of her husband's death due to a lack of exercise, but it remains not well grounded. The DIC claim under 38 U.S.C.A. § 1318 is also not well grounded.
The deciding factor: The AHA position statement does not provide sufficient medical evidence to establish a direct causal relationship between the veteran's service-connected disabilities and his cause of death, which is required for a well-grounded claim.
- Claimed conditions
- Cardiopulmonary failure, Cerebral vascular accident
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 22, 2000
- Citation
- 0016586
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 0016586.
What this means for you
A partial grant means some issues were granted while others were denied or remanded — common in multi-issue claims. Look at which issues went which way, and how each was argued.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to a failure to obtain a VA medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's cause of death was related to his in-service exposure to herbicide agents, and whether it is at least as likely as not that the causes were proximately due or aggravated by service-connected conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection of the Veteran's cause of death to obtain a new medical opinion addressing whether the Veteran's cold injury residuals contributed to and worsened his coronary artery disease, which was a contributory cause of his death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for service connection for a heart condition and a cerebral vascular accident due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors, including obtaining outstanding medical records and providing an appropriate VA medical addendum opinion.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was ruled not to be in the line of duty due to his willful misconduct, specifically excessive alcohol consumption. The Board found that the cause of death (cardiopulmonary failure) was not incurred in the line of duty.
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