The Board denied the appellant's request for an earlier effective date for the grant of service connection for cause of the veteran's death, finding that the earliest application to reopen the claim was filed on May 14, 1996. The amended death certificate submitted then listed symptoms of a service-connected peptic ulcer disease as a contributory cause of death.
The deciding factor: The effective date could not be earlier than May 14, 1996 because the first application to reopen the claim was filed on that date and the amended death certificate provided evidence of a service-connected condition contributing to the veteran's death.
- Claimed conditions
- cause of death
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 6, 2003
- Citation
- 0311720
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,467 · Granted: 18% (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 0311720.
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.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeal because the Appellant did not specify which specific decision or issue she disagreed with, specifically regarding her claim for service connection related to Camp Lejeune exposure.
- Dismissed
The Board has already granted service connection for the cause of death in a previous decision, and no new issues are pending. The current appeal is dismissed.
- Dismissed
The appeal for service connection for the Veteran's cause of death is dismissed due to concurrent election.
- Granted
The Board has granted an earlier effective date of July 1, 2014 for dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) based on the appellant's claim received within one year following the Veteran's death.
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