The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death, finding that no service-connected disability caused or contributed to his suicide.
The deciding factor: The evidence did not show a service-connected psychiatric disorder involved in the veteran's suicide.
- Claimed conditions
- Suicide
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 14, 2004
- Citation
- 0409586
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 685 · Granted: 36% (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 0409586.
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was ruled a suicide by drowning, and the VA has determined that his service-connected conditions did not cause or contribute to his death. The Board found no evidence linking any in-service psychiatric condition to his later depression and suicide.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient verification of a reported stressor and for further examination if the stressor is verified.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for a new VA opinion to address whether the Veteran's suicide was caused by his use of Methadone prescribed by VA, and if so, whether it was due to negligence or lack of proper skill on the part of VA.
- Granted
The Board has reopened the appellant's claim for service connection for cause of death due to new and material evidence submitted since the final November 1986 rating decision. The Veteran committed suicide while on active duty, but there is no indication that he was of sound mind at the time. The Board finds that his death does not meet the criteria for willful misconduct or drug use resulting in service connection.
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