The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death, finding that there was no evidence linking his death to military service or herbicide exposure.
The deciding factor: There is no competent medical evidence linking the cause of the veteran's death (abdominal aortic aneurysm and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) to his military service, including National Guard service. The Board found that there was insufficient evidence to establish service connection for the cause of death.
- Claimed conditions
- Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 21, 2005
- Citation
- 0501558
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 332 · 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 0501558.
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 Veteran's service connection for leukemia, characterized as CLL, was improperly severed. Service connection for T-cell LGL leukemia is restored. The severance of service connection for NHL is upheld.
- Granted
The Board has restored a 100 percent rating for the Veteran's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, effective April 1, 2025.
- Granted
The Veteran's SMC was granted at the intermediate level between 38 U.S.C. § 1114(m) and (n) due to additional disabilities including peripheral neuropathies, tinnitus, hearing loss, and lymphoma.
- Granted
The Veteran's non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma was granted a 100% rating effective February 8, 2019.
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