The veteran's death was not caused by or substantially contributed to by a disability incurred in or aggravated by his active duty service. The appellant's claim for Dependents' Educational Assistance benefits under Chapter 35, Title 38, United States Code is also denied.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the alcoholic cirrhosis which resulted in the veteran's death was not caused by his service-connected PTSD and therefore did not meet the criteria for service connection. The appellant does not qualify for Dependents' Educational Assistance benefits as her husband did not die of a service-connected disability or be evaluated as permanently and totally disabled for 10 years prior to his death.
- Claimed conditions
- Alcoholic Cirrhosis
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 7, 2003
- Citation
- 0304070
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,500 · Granted: 17% (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 0304070.
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 has remanded the case for further development due to missing records and unclear medical opinions regarding the cause of death.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's service-connected PTSD contributed to his death from hepatic cancer due to, or as consequence of, diabetes mellitus and cirrhosis.
- Denied
The Board found that the Veteran's death was not caused or materially affected by a service-connected disability, and thus denied the claim for service connection for cause of death.
- Granted
The Board has reopened the previously denied claim for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death due to new and material evidence. However, the VA examiner concluded that the veteran's service-connected disabilities did not contribute substantially or materially to his death.
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