The Board found that the veteran's death was not caused by a service-connected disability, and thus denied his claim for service connection for the cause of his death.
The deciding factor: The preponderance of evidence did not show a causal relationship between the veteran's fatal cardiovascular disease and his active service or any incident therein.
- Claimed conditions
- Cerebral Hemorrhage, Cardiovascular Disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- January 14, 2004
- Citation
- 0401397
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,776 · Granted: 24% (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 0401397.
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: Partly granted
The Board denied a 100 percent rating for the Veteran's mental health disability prior to July 9, 2025 and remanded several issues related to service connection.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the Veteran's hypertension and cardiovascular disease are not at least as likely as not due to or aggravated by his service-connected PTSD with opioid use disorder, necessitating further examination and review.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a brain disorder, to include residuals of head trauma and cerebral hemorrhage. The Board found that there was no evidence linking these conditions to his active service.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage, and hypertension was a contributory cause. The Board found that the Veteran’s hypertension was aggravated by his service-connected PTSD and caused by herbicide exposure, granting service connection for the cause of death.
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