The Board found that the veteran's death was not caused by a service-connected disability and denied the claim.
The deciding factor: The medical evidence did not establish that the veteran's heart disease had its onset in the line of duty, and his death was attributed to congestive heart failure secondary to cardiomyopathy likely due to chronic alcohol ingestion.
- Claimed conditions
- Heart Disease, Ischemic Cardiomyopathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- March 3, 2003
- Citation
- 0303604
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,421 · Granted: 29% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0303604.
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: Denied
The Veteran's claims for specially adapted housing and special home adaptation grants were denied as they did not meet the criteria for assistance in acquiring such benefits due to lack of qualifying service-connected disabilities.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a duty-to-assist error, requiring an addendum VA medical opinion on whether the Veteran's current heart conditions are related to his service, including exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune and his MOS as a mechanic.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's claim for PTSD was denied as there is no current diagnosis of PTSD.,The Veteran's claims for bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, heart disease, stroke residuals, diabetes mellitus, right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, left lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, right upper extremity peripheral neuropathy, and left upper extremity peripheral neuropathy were all denied as there is no current diagnosis of these conditions.,The Veteran's exposure to burn pits, Agent Orange, Camp Lejeune, radiation, Gulf War, or any other specific environment was not considered in this decision.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's cause of death, multisystem organ failure due to severe congestive heart failure (CHF), is not related to service or a service-connected disability.
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