The Board denied the claim of service connection for the cause of death due to dissecting aortic aneurysm, finding that neither the service-connected PTSD nor any other condition caused or contributed substantially to the veteran's death.
The deciding factor: The VA physician who provided the opinion in August 2002 found that hypertension had a contribution but PTSD had less than 5 percent contribution to the development of aortic aneurysm and hypertension. The Board considered this opinion more persuasive due to its thorough review of the veteran's medical history.
- Claimed conditions
- dissecting aortic aneurysm
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 14, 2004
- Citation
- 0418835
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 673 · Granted: 27% (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 0418835.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death was attributed to cardiogenic shock, dissecting aortic aneurysm due to community acquired pneumonia. The Board denied service connection for the cause of death as there is no evidence linking his service-connected PTSD to his heart disability.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's death was caused by dissecting aortic aneurysm and peripheral vascular disease, but the service connection for these conditions is denied due to lack of evidence linking them to his military service. The Agent Orange exposure claim is also denied.
- Denied
The Board found that the cause of death was not service-connected and denied both the claim for service connection for cause of death and the claim for dependency and indemnity compensation under 38 U.S.C.A. § 1318.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has ordered additional medical records and a VA cardiologist's opinion to determine if the veteran's service-connected anxiety disorder (PTSD) was at least as likely as not a primary or contributory cause of his death from dissecting aneurysm of the aorta.
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