The Board has denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death, finding that the preponderance of evidence does not support a finding that the veteran's service-connected schizophrenia contributed substantially or materially to his death from heart disease.
The deciding factor: The clinical rationale advanced by Dr. Mykoff lacks materiality and is not supported by scientific evidence probative of the theory advanced. The VA physician in April 1999 memorandum indicated that 'not seeking medical care bears no relationship to sudden death from acute onset ventricular fibrillation.'
- Claimed conditions
- Schizophrenic reaction, Heart disease (including coronary artery disease)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 7, 2001
- Citation
- 0106772
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 0106772.
What this means for you
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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The Veteran's unauthorized private medical services provided at Marymount Hospital from July 11, 2000 to July 12, 2000 were denied as the treatment was not authorized in advance by VA and did not meet the criteria for emergency treatment.
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The Board denied the veteran's claims for certificates of eligibility for financial assistance in acquiring specially adaptive housing and special home adaptation grants due to lack of entitlement based on service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The veteran's cause of death was attributed to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, which the VA determined did not have its onset during service. The appellant argued that her husband's service-connected disabilities contributed to his death, but this argument lacked medical support. As a result, the claim for service connection for the cause of death was denied.
- Denied
The Board found that the cause of death, a pulmonary embolus, was not caused or contributed to by service-connected conditions. The right arm disability and schizophrenia were deemed unrelated to the veteran's death.
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