The veteran's cause of death was not caused by any incident of service, including exposure to Agent Orange.
The deciding factor: The veteran's hepatorenal syndrome and HIV were not shown to be related to his military service or exposure to herbicides.
- Claimed conditions
- Hepatorenal syndrome, Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) secondary to intravenous drug abuse
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- April 16, 2003
- Citation
- 0307344
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,464 · Granted: 14% (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 0307344.
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 death was not related to service-connected disability, and he did not meet the criteria for DIC or survivor pension benefits. The Appellant also does not qualify for accrued benefits due to a lack of pending claims at the time of her husband's death.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that there was no evidence of herbicide exposure during his military service and thus not meeting the criteria for presumptive service connection.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's cause of death, hepatorenal syndrome with end stage liver disease, is found to be related to his service-connected PTSD and alcohol abuse. As the Veteran's PTSD was found to be a contributory cause of death, service connection for the cause of death is granted.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient evidence regarding the cause of the Veteran's death and whether his service-connected PTSD caused or aggravated his liver failure.
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