The Board denied service connection for the cause of the veteran's death, concluding that there was no clear and unmistakable error in their decision.
The deciding factor: The Board found insufficient evidence to support a finding that the veteran's service-connected psychiatric disability caused his tobacco addiction after service, which is necessary to establish secondary service connection under VA General Counsel Opinion.
- Claimed conditions
- cardiorespiratory arrest, progressive respiratory insufficiency, metastatic adenocarcinoma of the lung (lung cancer), arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, esophageal stricture, malnutrition
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 2, 2006
- Citation
- 0633959
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,467 · Granted: 18% (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 0633959.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's gastritis and esophageal stricture are granted as service-connected.
- Granted
The Veteran's GERD with hiatal hernia is rated at a 30 percent disability rating, effective March 12, 2021.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's death was caused by cardiorespiratory arrest and metastatic esophageal cancer. The appellant is recognized as the surviving spouse, but service connection for cause of death remains pending due to insufficient information on in-service exposure to herbicide agents.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim for TDIU prior to October 18, 2018 due to a lack of evidence showing that the Veteran's service-connected disabilities prevented him from securing or following a substantially gainful occupation.
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