The Board denied service connection for the cause of the veteran's death due to a lack of evidence linking his death to any disability incurred or aggravated in service.
The deciding factor: There is no competent medical opinion linking the cause of the veteran's death (cancer of the stomach with liver metastasis and cerebrovascular accidents) to service or any disability potentially related to service.
- Claimed conditions
- cancer of the stomach, cerebrovascular accidents
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 7, 2003
- Citation
- 0302400
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,421 · Granted: 29% (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 0302400.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for increased ratings for cerebrovascular accidents and service connection for lightheadness are dismissed. A 10 percent rating is granted for hypertension, effective from the date of the decision.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was caused by cancer of the stomach, which is not service-connected. The Board finds that none of his service-connected conditions were the cause or contributed to his death.
- Denied
The Board found that neither carcinomatosis of the abdomen nor cancer of the stomach had their onset during service, were not shown to be otherwise related to the Veteran's service or his service-connected disorders, and therefore did not cause or significantly contribute to the Veteran's death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The case is being remanded for additional development and notification to the appellant.
Free starter guide for your own claim
Reading this because you were denied or under-rated? Get the plain-English next steps — your appeal options, the deadline that protects you, and how appeals like yours turn out. One email, no spam.
We will only use this to send the guide. No spam, unsubscribe any time. We never sell your information.
We are not the VA. Veterans’ Rights is an independent resource built for veterans. We are not the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, not part of the government, and not endorsed by any government agency.
This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.