The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death, finding that there was no evidence linking the obesity and weight gain to the fatal myocardial infarction. The preponderance of the evidence did not support a causal relationship between the veteran's schizophrenia and his death.
The deciding factor: The VA cardiologist concluded that the veteran's severe obesity was not a major risk factor for the development of coronary artery disease, making it less likely than not that the veteran's 'severe obesity' caused or significantly contributed to his death from acute myocardial infarction.
- Claimed conditions
- paranoid type schizophrenia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 10, 2006
- Citation
- 0613639
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,987 · Granted: 15% (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 0613639.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's service connection claim for paranoid type schizophrenia is granted. The Board has also remanded the issues of left knee disability, CAD, cerebral vascular accident, and hypertension.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's wife has stated that he refuses to stay home alone due to extreme fear, causing her financial hardship. The Board is remanding the case for a new VA examination to assess whether the Veteran needs regular aid and attendance of another person.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient information to decide on the appeal regarding whether the Veteran's pre-existing schizophrenia was aggravated by active service.
- Denied
The Veteran is not competent to manage his VA benefits due to recurrent psychiatric decompensation and inability to consistently take antipsychotic medications.
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