The Board has determined that the veteran's cause of death, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), was incurred during his military service and contributed to his death. As a result, the claim for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death is granted.
The deciding factor: The medical evidence supports the conclusion that COPD began during the veteran's active military service and was related to his tobacco use, contributing substantially to his death.
- Claimed conditions
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 26, 2004
- Citation
- 0420123
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 0420123.
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 Veteran's death was not caused or contributed to by service or a service-connected disability. The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death as there was no evidence of herbicide exposure during service and no other link between the Veteran's death and his military service.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was not service connected due to lack of evidence linking his conditions to service, and there is no presumption of exposure to herbicide agents (Agent Orange). The Board found the evidence did not support a grant of service connection for any condition that caused or contributed to the Veteran's death.
- Granted
The Veteran was entitled to payment or reimbursement for medical expenses incurred due to an emergency at a non-VA facility because VA facilities were not feasibly available and he had a permanent and total disability rating.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the cause of death (CHF, laryngeal cancer, and COPD) is not related to service. The case is being remanded for further development including obtaining in-patient records from Camp Carson, Colorado, verifying asbestos exposure during service, and obtaining a new VA medical opinion.
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