The Board found that the veteran's death was not caused by a service-connected disability and denied his claim for service connection for the cause of death.
The deciding factor: The preponderance of evidence showed that the veteran did not have post-traumatic stress disorder, which contributed to his excessive alcohol consumption and subsequent death.
- Claimed conditions
- Acute respiratory distress syndrome, Hypoxia, Acute liver failure
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 1, 2002
- Citation
- 0213369
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 0213369.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection and DIC due to the Veteran's cause of death, as well as a claim under 38 U.S.C. § 1151, for additional development.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for cause of death and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) due to insufficient evidence regarding the Veteran's in-service exposure, medical history, and the relationship between his current conditions and service.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death was not service-connected as his heart failure and other conditions were not shown to be related to his military service.,The Veteran did not meet the criteria for DIC benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 1318.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for the cause of his death, finding that there was no evidence to support exposure to herbicide agents during service and thus denying service connection on a presumptive basis. The Board also found insufficient evidence to establish direct or secondary service connection for any conditions contributing to the Veteran's death.
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