The Board denied the appellant's claim for DIC benefits under 38 U.S.C.A. § 1318 because the veteran did not meet the statutory requirement of having been rated totally disabled for at least 10 years prior to his death.
The deciding factor: The veteran was not in actual receipt of a 100% disability rating for service-connected disabilities for the required period of time prior to his death, and therefore is not considered a 'deceased veteran' under 38 U.S.C.A. § 1318.
- Claimed conditions
- schizophrenic reaction, malaria
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 30, 2004
- Citation
- 0417461
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 464 · Granted: 21% (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 0417461.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient detail in a previous VA medical opinion regarding whether malaria or scarlet fever during service contributed to the Veteran's death. The case must be returned for further evaluation.
- Dismissed
The appeal has been dismissed due to the death of the Appellant, and no decision can be made on the underlying claims.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for an increased rating for malaria was dismissed because the November 17, 2025 request for Board review came before the September 16, 2025 higher-level review of the same issue had been completed.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, which was related to his schizophrenia that began during service. The Board found that this disability substantially contributed to the Veteran's untimely death by suicide.
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