The Board found that the veteran's death was not caused by a service-connected condition and did not meet the criteria for DIC benefits under 38 U.S.C.A. § 1318.
The deciding factor: The evidence did not show that any of the veteran's service-connected conditions contributed to his death, nor did it demonstrate continuous total disability due to service-connected conditions prior to his death.
- Claimed conditions
- Anxiety disorder with depressive disorder, Aspiration pneumonia, Donor site scars, Left knee total replacement with fusion and history of osteomyelitis, Osteopenia, status post total arthroplasty and right total knee replacement
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 9, 2004
- Citation
- 0403599
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,435 · Granted: 22% (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 0403599.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection of the Veteran's cause of death to obtain a medical opinion regarding the relationship between his in-service pneumonia and his aspiration pneumonia, as well as whether his TBI caused or contributed to his seizures and Parkinson's disease.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for cause of death to obtain a medical opinion on whether the Veteran's cause of death was caused by or etiologically related to exposure to multiple vaccinations during service.
- Denied
The Board denied the appellant's claims for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death and entitlement to Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) under 38 U.S.C. § 1318, finding that the evidence did not support a conclusion that any of the Veteran's service-connected disabilities contributed substantially or materially to his death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to a duty-to-assist error, requiring an additional VA medical opinion regarding the cause of the Veteran's death.
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