The Board granted service connection for the cause of the veteran's death, effective November 1, 1993. The appellant argued that this effective date should be retroactive to when she filed her claim in December 1993.
The deciding factor: Service connection was granted based on presumed exposure as a POW during World War II, linking the cause of death (cryptogenic cirrhosis) to service.
- Claimed conditions
- cryptogenic cirrhosis
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 5, 2004
- Citation
- 0406019
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,421 · Granted: 29% (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 0406019.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board allowed the benefit or issue identified in this decision. Review the original order: other issues in the same appeal may have a different outcome, and this decision does not predict another claim.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's hypertension is granted as service connected. The liver disability claim is remanded for further development and opinion.
- Granted
The Veteran's initial disability rating for scars, status post liver transplant, is granted at a 20 percent level. The claim for an earlier effective date for the grant of service connection to status post liver transplant, chronic active hepatitis with active nodular cirrhosis, now cryptogenic cirrhosis, is dismissed.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's cause of death was related to his exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's cryptogenic cirrhosis is related to his in-service exposure to Agent Orange, and therefore grants service connection for this condition.
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