The Board of Veterans' Appeals has denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death due to insufficient evidence provided by the RO.
The deciding factor: The VA medical opinion was not obtained as required by law, and the claims folder review was incomplete.
- Claimed conditions
- cyanotic cardiopulmonary distress, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary new growth, aortic aneurysm
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 26, 2004
- Citation
- 0410692
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 0410692.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for gastroesophageal reflux disease, obstructive sleep apnea, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease but denied service connection for irritable bowel syndrome. The Board also denied an increased rating for the Veteran's service-connected psychiatric condition.
- Partly granted
The Board granted restoration of the 10 percent evaluation for left knee meniscus, effective April 21, 2025, and an additional 20 percent rating was also granted.
- Granted
The Board granted an increased (Level 2) stipend in the PCAFC for the Veteran's caregiver due to the need for continuous supervision and protection based on the Veteran's medical conditions.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for diabetes mellitus, valvular heart disease (chest pain and cardiac valve stenosis), aortic aneurysm, and hypertension as these conditions were not found to be etiologically related to the Veteran's active duty service.
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