The Board has determined that the veteran's service-connected disabilities, including his right leg gunshot wound, sciatic neuritis, and anxiety disorder, likely caused or exacerbated his heart problems resulting in his death. Therefore, the appeal for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death is granted.
The deciding factor: The service-connected disabilities likely caused or exacerbated the veteran's heart problems which led to his death.
- Claimed conditions
- right leg gunshot wound, sciatic neuritis, psychoneurosis/anxiety
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 10, 2003
- Citation
- 0304156
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,458 · Granted: 24% (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 0304156.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board allowed the benefit or issue identified in this decision. Review the original order: other issues in the same appeal may have a different outcome, and this decision does not predict another claim.
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 due to the need for additional development, including obtaining a VA medical opinion and obtaining any outstanding VA medical records.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the issue of service connection for the cause of death due to insufficient evidence regarding the relationship between the Veteran's death and his service-connected conditions or any other potential causes. The appellant must provide information about medical records that may support her claims.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for tinnitus and residuals of cold injuries to the upper and lower extremities, as well as service connection for sciatic neuritis. The claim for low back injury was not addressed due to pending development.
- Granted
The Veteran's sciatic neuritis and left knee disability have been granted increased ratings, with the sciatic neuritis receiving a maximum rating of 40 percent.
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