The Board denied the appellant's claim for service connection for the cause of her husband's death, finding no competent medical evidence linking his terminal conditions to his active service.
The deciding factor: No competent medical evidence was found relating the veteran's terminal conditions (hypoxic encephalopathy and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) to his active service.
- Claimed conditions
- hypoxic encephalopathy, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (pulmonary emphysema)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- July 11, 2003
- Citation
- 0315715
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 0315715.
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: Granted
The Veteran's cause of death is granted due to his exposure to herbicide agents during service, which presumed him exposed to Agent Orange. His diabetes mellitus, a condition associated with such exposure, contributed substantially or materially to his untimely death.
- Whole decision: Partly granted
The Board has granted service connection for a heart condition other than ischemic heart disease and brain damage, but denied service connection for ischemic heart disease. The Veteran's current heart condition is due to his service-connected alcoholism with liver disease, while his brain disorder is due to his service-connected heart condition.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board finds that the Veteran's cause of death, hypoxic encephalopathy, was not caused or substantially contributed to by a service-connected disability. The appellant has not provided sufficient evidence to establish that diabetes mellitus type II, presumed due to herbicide exposure in Vietnam, caused or contributed to the Veteran's death.
- Whole decision: Granted
The veteran's cause of death was determined to be due to hypoxic encephalopathy, coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, coronary artery disease, and cardiomyopathy. The Board found that the veteran had hypertension in service, which is shown by competent medical evidence to have been etiologically related to his cause of death.
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