The Board found that the cause of death, acute alcoholism, was not service-connected and denied the claim.
The deciding factor: The veteran died from acute alcoholism which is not considered a service-connected disability.
- Claimed conditions
- Acute alcoholism, Neurosyphilis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- December 11, 2002
- Citation
- 0217915
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 0217915.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Board has granted service connection for acute alcoholism as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected encephalopathy.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for service connection of major depressive disorder associated with HIV and neurosyphilis was denied as there is no evidence of an earlier unadjudicated claim.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board found that service connection is not warranted for neurosyphilis and transverse myelitis with neurogenic bladder as the preponderance of evidence does not support a link to active duty service or a service-connected disability.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the appellant's claim for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death, finding that it cannot be found, without resort to speculation, that the cause of the veteran's death was a pulmonary embolus as a complication of thrombophlebitis caused or aggravated by his service-connected varicose veins of the right leg.
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