The Board denied the appellant's claims for service connection for the cause of her husband's death, earlier effective date for TDIU, and DIC benefits pursuant to 38 U.S.C. § 1318 due to lack of evidence showing a direct link between any service-connected condition and the veteran's death.
The deciding factor: The Board found that there was no direct evidence linking any service-connected condition to the cause of the veteran's death, which is required for service connection under VA regulations.
- Claimed conditions
- congestive heart failure, emphysema, cirrhosis of the liver, alpha-1 anti-trypsin deficiency
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 23, 2006
- Citation
- 0615028
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,013 · Granted: 17% (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 0615028.
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Related decisions
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- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's death was not caused by or substantially contributed to by any service-connected disability, and thus denied the claim for service connection for cause of death.
- Remanded (sent back)
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The Veteran's lung condition, including pneumonia residuals, COPD, and emphysema, is remanded for further examination to determine if they are related to his military service. The appeal is reopened based on new evidence.
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