The Board found that the veteran's death was not caused by a service-connected disability and denied both his claim for service connection for the cause of his death and his claim for non-service connected death pension benefits.
The deciding factor: There is no competent evidence linking the cause of the veteran's death to any service-connected disability or to his period of active duty service.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of gunshot wound to the abdomen
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 23, 2005
- Citation
- 0508738
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 0508738.
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 has granted service connection for the Veteran's residuals of a gunshot wound to the abdomen and related surgeries, finding that his current hiatal hernia is at least as likely as not related to his active duty service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for further development, including obtaining VA treatment records and SSA records. The Veteran is also to be scheduled for a VA psychiatric examination to determine if he currently has any psychiatric disorders (including PTSD) that are related to service or his gunshot wound to the abdomen.
- Denied
The veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for the award of service connection for residuals of gunshot wound to the abdomen was denied.,The veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for the award of service connection for venous insufficiency of the right leg was also denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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