The Board determined that the veteran's death was not caused by or a result of his service-connected disabilities, and denied all claims.
The deciding factor: Service records did not show pneumonia or toxic shock syndrome. The cause of death was attributed to diffuse bilateral acute hemorrhagic necrotizing pneumonia due to alpha hemolytic streptococcal bacteria with sepsis, complicated by bullous pulmonary emphysema and other conditions related to chronic cigarette smoking.
- Claimed conditions
- low back disability, dysthymic disorder, residuals of a head injury with cervical radiculopathy, lymphedema (with history of thrombophlebitis), hypertension (with history of transient ischemic attacks, dizziness and renal insufficiency), degenerative lipping of the cervical spine, skin disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 12, 2004
- Citation
- 0401020
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,458 · Granted: 24% (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 0401020.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
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 found that remand is needed for the Veteran's claims due to duty to assist errors, including clarification of periods of service and obtaining relevant records. The Veteran will be afforded new medical examinations for each claimed disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's skin disability is remanded for a VA examination to determine the nature and etiology of his condition, including whether it is related to service or toxic exposure risk activities. The Veteran also needs to provide authorization forms for private treatment records.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and remanded the claims of right shoulder disability and low back disability due to insufficient evidence.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection of a low back disability was granted with an effective date of January 9, 2018. The Board accepted her November 21, 2019 VA Form 20-0996 as a valid opt-in of the April 2019 SOC into the modernized review system.
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