The Board denied the claim for service connection for cause of death, finding that neither a service-connected disability nor alcohol abuse was the principal or contributory cause of the veteran's death.
The deciding factor: Service-connected conditions did not cause or contribute to the veteran's death. The pain from his service-connected knee and experiences as a POW did not lead him to self-medicate with alcohol, which caused his death.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral hearing loss, residuals of a fracture to the left knee with traumatic arthritis, keratosis solar on the neck, scar on the right hand
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 19, 2006
- Citation
- 0617844
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,242 · Granted: 24% (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 0617844.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for service connection of bilateral hearing loss and a ruptured right ear drum was dismissed due to the death of the Veteran.
- Denied
The Board found that the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss was noted upon entry into active duty service and did not increase in severity during service. Therefore, it denied his claim for service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for bilateral hearing loss, migraine headaches, and PTSD due to additional development of records and examination.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient evidence regarding the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss claim, specifically needing an addendum opinion from a VA examiner. The Veteran will be asked to provide any missing records and former employers' information.
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