The veteran died of metastatic pancreatic carcinoma. The Board found no causal connection between the cause of death and his service-connected disabilities or medications, thus denying service connection for the cause of death. The appellant is not eligible for dependant's educational assistance under Chapter 35 due to lack of a total and permanent disability resulting from a service-connected condition at the time of her husband's death.
The deciding factor: The Board found no medical evidence linking the veteran's medications or his service-connected disabilities to his cause of death, metastatic pancreatic carcinoma. The appellant did not meet the criteria for basic eligibility under Chapter 35 as she did not have a total and permanent disability resulting from a service-connected condition at the time of her husband's death.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic pancreatic carcinoma
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 6, 2006
- Citation
- 0634310
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 3,038 · Granted: 30% (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 0634310.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death, finding that there was no evidence linking his pancreatic cancer to his military service or exposure to herbicide agents.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's death was not due to his own willful misconduct, but the cause of death (metastatic pancreatic carcinoma) is not service-connected. The Board has remanded for a medical opinion on whether exposure to Agent Orange during service may have contributed to the Veteran's cancer.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his presumptive exposure to herbicide agents in Vietnam contributed at least partially to his pancreatic cancer.
- Granted
The Veteran's cause of death was pneumonia due to metastatic pancreatic carcinoma. The Board found that the service-connected dysthymia substantially contributed to his fall and subdural hematoma, which ultimately led to his death.
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