The Board denied the appellant's claims for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death and eligibility for dependent's educational assistance under Chapter 35, Title 38 United States Code.
The deciding factor: The Board found that cardiovascular disease, diabetes, blindness, peripheral vascular disease, and status post below-the-knee amputation were not incurred in or aggravated by military service, nor may they be presumed to have been incurred in service. The veteran's death was caused by a postoperative myocardial infarction due to or as a consequence of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease.
- Claimed conditions
- Atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, Diabetes mellitus, Blindness (right eye), Peripheral vascular disease, Status post right below the knee amputation
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- March 3, 2004
- Citation
- 0405800
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 541 · Granted: 32% (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 0405800.
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 Board has granted the Veteran's claim for payment or reimbursement of ambulance travel expenses incurred on June 17, 2025 due to an emergency heart attack. The ambulance service was provided by a volunteer organization and later intercepted by a higher-tier EMT company.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for cause of death, finding that there is no competent evidence linking any principal or contributory cause of his death to his service.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's death was not caused by any service-connected disability, and thus denied his claim for service connection for cause of death.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities did not preclude him from obtaining or maintaining substantially gainful employment prior to September 28, 2021. From September 28, 2021 to May 22, 2022, the Veteran had a combined total disability rating of 100%, which rendered the issue moot as he was already receiving SMC based on his service-connected disabilities.
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