The Board has granted DIC benefits based on the veteran's status as a former POW and his continuous total disability rating for one year prior to death, which constitutes a complete grant of the benefit sought.
The deciding factor: The RO granted DIC benefits under a different theory (POW status) than initially requested by the appellant, thus making the appeal moot.
- Claimed conditions
- Cause of death not specified
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 4, 2004
- Citation
- 0414442
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,776 · Granted: 24% (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 0414442.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the Appellant's petition to reopen her claim of service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death, finding that new and material evidence had not been received. The appeal was also denied for accrued benefits as there were no pending claims at the time of the Veteran's death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board previously denied the claim for DIC under 38 U.S.C. § 1151, but a new addendum opinion is required due to an inadequate January 2016 medical opinion. The examiner must address whether the Veteran's death was due to carelessness, negligence, or lack of proper skill on VA’s part.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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