The veteran's cause of death was not service-connected, and his DIC benefits were denied.
The deciding factor: Service connection for the cause of death could not be established as there was no evidence linking heart or kidney disease to service-connected disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- intractable congestive heart failure, dilated cardiomyopathy, recurrent ventricular tachycardia, renal insufficiency
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 80%
- Decision date
- October 13, 2006
- Citation
- 0631929
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,710 · 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 0631929.
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 has decided to remand the claims for service connection due to errors in obtaining evidence and medical opinions related to the Veteran's reported exposures during service and their potential impact on his claimed conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for sleep apnea and an initial compensable rating for hypertension due to errors in obtaining relevant evidence and developing the record.
- Dismissed
The appeal regarding the timeliness of a Higher-Level Review request for service connection for renal insufficiency is dismissed as moot.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, as the evidence did not show that the causes of his death were related to service or a service-connected disability.
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