The Board found that the veteran's cause of death was not related to any service-connected disabilities and denied the claim for service connection for the cause of death.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner concluded that there was insufficient information in the record from which it could be concluded that the veteran clearly and unmistakably entered service with a pre-existing nicotine addiction, and the disease leading to the veteran's terminal demise was an acute myocardial infarction and laryngeal carcinoma.
- Claimed conditions
- cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction, left lower lobe pneumonia, laryngeal carcinoma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 11, 2005
- Citation
- 0500767
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 0500767.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for the cause of death, determining that it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran's fatal conditions were caused by his military service.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for asthma, chronic sinusitis, recurrent bronchitis, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, myocardial infarction, sleep apnea, stroke, right ear hearing loss, and hemorrhoids. The Veteran was also denied a compensable disability rating for left ear hearing loss.
- Dismissed
The appeal was dismissed due to the Veteran's death while it was pending.
- Dismissed
The appeal of the October 2022 rating decision finding no new and relevant evidence to readjudicate the claim for service connection for myocardial infarction, myocarditis, and pericarditis was dismissed as procedurally defective.
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