The Board has denied the veteran's claim for service connection for a cardiovascular disability, as it is not related to his active military service or nicotine dependence.
The deciding factor: The medical evidence does not demonstrate that the veteran's cardiovascular disability is related to his smoking of tobacco during his active military service or that he became addicted to nicotine during his active service.
- Claimed conditions
- cardiovascular disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 24, 2003
- Citation
- 0301359
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 504 · Granted: 31% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 0301359.
What this means for you
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for diabetes, headaches, and a cardiovascular disability due to VA treatment on August 9, 2019. The Veteran contends that he was prescribed Jardiance (Empagliflozin) instead of Metformin, leading to complications such as DKA, renal failure, high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, sleep apnea, dizziness, and headaches.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for a cardiovascular disability and tinnitus, finding that the Veteran's conditions are related to his military service.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a cardiovascular disability, including coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure, as well as sleep apnea, both claimed as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected right ankle injury. The evidence did not support a finding of direct service connection or secondary aggravation.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to a lack of autopsy and death certificate records, which are necessary for a complete evaluation of the Veteran's cause of death claim.
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