The Board found that the veteran's service-connected psychiatric disability did not cause or contribute to his death. The appellant also failed to meet the requirement of having a right to receive total service-connected disability compensation for at least ten years prior to her husband's death, as required by section 1318.
The deciding factor: The medical evidence does not support a link between the veteran's service-connected psychiatric disability and his cause of death (sudden cardiac death due to coronary artery disease and diabetes mellitus).
- Claimed conditions
- depressive reaction, dysthymic disorder, dementia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- June 3, 2004
- Citation
- 0414312
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 0414312.
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.
- Granted
The Board granted an effective date of June 22, 2017, for the grant of service connection for vascular neurocognitive disorder; unspecified depressive disorder with anxious distress.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected dysthymic disorder, anxiety disorder, borderline intellectual functioning, and dyslexia have prevented him from securing or following a substantially gainful occupation.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for dementia, finding that it was aggravated by the Veteran's service-connected hearing loss disability.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an increased rating of 70 percent for dysthymic disorder and a total rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disability, effective July 31, 2008.
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