The Board found that the veteran's death was not caused by a service-connected disability, and thus denied the claim for service connection for the cause of death.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner opined that the veteran's medications for his service-connected schizophrenia were not a contributory factor to his death. The causes of the veteran's death (gastrointestinal hemorrhage, esophageal varices, and liver cirrhosis) occurred many years after service and are not linked to his service-connected conditions or medications.
- Claimed conditions
- schizophrenic reaction, eosinophilia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 18, 2006
- Citation
- 0614508
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for lymphatic filariasis, finding that there is no current diagnosis of Hodgkin’s disease/lymphadenopathy, lymphatic filariasis, and/or eosinophilia.
- Partly granted
The Board dismissed the appeal for eosinophilia, granted service connection for thyroid condition, and remanded the liver disorder issue.,Service connection was granted for the Veteran's thyroid condition related to service.
- Denied
The appeal for an effective date earlier than December 3, 1998, for the grant of service connection for schizophrenic reaction was denied.
- Granted
The veteran was entitled to a 100% disability rating for schizophrenia from November 1, 1972 until his death in February 1984. As the reduction of this rating was found to be void ab initio, the appellant is now eligible for enhanced DIC benefits.
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