The Board has granted service connection for cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as secondary to the veteran's use of tobacco during service.
The deciding factor: Medical evidence established a nexus between the veteran's in-service smoking or nicotine addiction and current diagnoses of cardiovascular disease and COPD.
- Claimed conditions
- Cardiovascular Disease, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 26, 2000
- Citation
- 0019557
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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0019557.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board allowed the benefit or issue identified in this decision. Review the original order: other issues in the same appeal may have a different outcome, and this decision does not predict another claim.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was not caused or contributed to by service or a service-connected disability. The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death as there was no evidence of herbicide exposure during service and no other link between the Veteran's death and his military service.
- Partly granted
The Board denied a 100 percent rating for the Veteran's mental health disability prior to July 9, 2025 and remanded several issues related to service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the Veteran's hypertension and cardiovascular disease are not at least as likely as not due to or aggravated by his service-connected PTSD with opioid use disorder, necessitating further examination and review.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was not service connected due to lack of evidence linking his conditions to service, and there is no presumption of exposure to herbicide agents (Agent Orange). The Board found the evidence did not support a grant of service connection for any condition that caused or contributed to the Veteran's death.
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