The veteran's death is not attributed to VA medical treatment, and the cause of his death was due to hypotension resulting from gastrointestinal bleed secondary to hepatic failure.
The deciding factor: VA medical records do not show any evidence linking the veteran’s hepatitis B or other conditions to VA treatment, nor does there appear to be a transfusion risk as blood testing for hepatitis B had been improved by then.
- Claimed conditions
- Hepatitis B, Gastrointestinal Bleed, Hepatic Encephalopathy, End Stage Cirrhosis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 8, 2002
- Citation
- 0209465
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 0209465.
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 Veteran's claims for service connection were denied, and the reduction of his hepatitis B rating from 20% to 0% was upheld. Service connection was not established for diabetes, left knee arthritis, hypertension, or obstructive sleep apnea. Bilateral hearing loss was granted.
- Granted
The Veteran's death was caused by metabolic and respiratory acidosis due to hepatic encephalopathy, liver failure, and chronic liver disease. The Board found that the Veteran's alcohol abuse in an attempt to self-medicate his PTSD symptoms contributed to the development of his liver conditions and ultimately led to his death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's asthma and hepatitis B claims are remanded for further evaluation. The TDIU claim is also remanded due to its inextricability with the other claims.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an initial rating in excess of 20 percent for hepatitis B from January 4, 1977, to June 18, 2009 is being remanded due to the need for a retrospective addendum opinion.
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