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Denied

The veteran died of a nonservice-connected cause and did not meet the criteria for burial benefits as there was insufficient evidence to support an award of pension effective prior to his death.

The deciding factor: There was no sufficient evidence of record on the date of the veteran's death to have supported an award of pension effective prior to the date of the veteran's death.

Claimed conditions
failure to thrive, anemia, malnutrition
How they argued it
Not specified
Exposure basis
None
Rating assigned
None in this decision
Decision date
January 11, 2005
Citation
0500740

Veterans Law Judge

MARY GALLAGHER

Decisions by this judge: 1,464 · Granted: 14% (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 0500740.

What this means for you

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