The Board denied the appellant's claim for service connection for the cause of her husband's death due to nicotine dependence incurred in service, finding that there is no legal basis under current law and regulations.
The deciding factor: The VCAA prohibits an award of service connection for death or disability on the basis that it resulted from an injury or disease attributable to the use of tobacco products by a veteran during their service. As the appellant filed her claim based on the veteran's use of nicotine products in service after June 9, 1998, there is no legal basis under current law and regulations.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic lung cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 28, 2006
- Citation
- 0627025
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 0627025.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the service connection claims for various cancers and eye conditions due to an alleged failure to properly investigate toxic exposures during service, including at Fort Wainwright.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death to obtain additional evidence and a medical opinion.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was not caused by service-connected conditions, and the evidence does not support a finding of exposure to herbicide agents during service. Therefore, the claim for service connection for the cause of death is denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's death and its contributory causes. The appellant must provide additional evidence from a VA examiner.
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