The VA denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death, concluding that his atherosclerotic heart disease did not result from his service-connected varicose veins and was not related to any other service-connected condition.
The deciding factor: The VA doctor concluded there was no relationship between the service-connected varicose veins and the veteran's cause of death (myocardial infarct due to atherosclerotic heart disease).
- Claimed conditions
- Myocardial infarct, atherosclerotic heart disease, Alzheimer's disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 13, 2005
- Citation
- 0501069
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,977 · 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 0501069.
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.
- Granted
The Board has granted DIC benefits based on service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his service-connected prostate cancer and its treatment caused his death due to side effects from Zytiga.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinions regarding whether the Veteran's service-connected anxiety disorder and exposures at Camp LeJeune contributed to his cause of death. The VA must obtain an addendum opinion addressing these issues.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the claims for service connection for prostate cancer, Alzheimer's disease, pseudophakia, spine tumor, and a heart condition due to potential errors in obtaining all relevant medical records and considering the Veteran's exposure to toxic environmental risk activities (TERA) during his military service.
- Denied
The Veteran's death due to cardiac arrest and atherosclerotic heart disease was not related or attributable to his military service, thus denying the claim for service connection for cause of death.
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