The Board found that the veteran's service-connected anxiety disorder contributed to his death from Alzheimer's disease, which was exacerbated by atherosclerotic cerebrovascular disease. The Board granted service connection for the cause of the veteran's death.
The deciding factor: The private physician and pathologist provided medical opinions supporting the contribution of the service-connected anxiety disorder to the veteran's death due to atherosclerotic disease.
- Claimed conditions
- Alzheimer's disease, Atherosclerotic cerebrovascular disease
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 50%
- Decision date
- January 13, 2004
- Citation
- 0401235
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 493 · Granted: 28% (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 0401235.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
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 insufficient medical opinions regarding whether the Veteran's service-connected anxiety disorder and exposures at Camp LeJeune contributed to his cause of death. The VA must obtain an addendum opinion addressing these issues.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the claims for service connection for prostate cancer, Alzheimer's disease, pseudophakia, spine tumor, and a heart condition due to potential errors in obtaining all relevant medical records and considering the Veteran's exposure to toxic environmental risk activities (TERA) during his military service.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including PTSD and generalized anxiety disorder, as well as Alzheimer's disease. The evidence did not support a finding of a current disability or a causal link to service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a lack of VA medical opinion regarding the cause of death and failure to obtain SSA disability records.
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