The Board has determined that the veteran's service-connected hypertensive vascular disease caused or contributed substantially to his death, and thus grants service connection for the cause of his death.
The deciding factor: The veteran was a former POW who developed cardiovascular disease during service. His hypertension is presumed due to his status as a POW, and he had evidence of coronary artery disease at autopsy which could have been related to this condition.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), hypertensive vascular disease, encephalopathy, adenocarcinoma, prostate
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- December 22, 2006
- Citation
- 0639776
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,480 · Granted: 26% (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 0639776.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
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Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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- Denied
The Board denied service connection for asthma, COPD, pancreatitis, stroke, and left arm weakness (claimed as secondary to stroke) based on the presumption of exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. The evidence did not support a finding that these conditions were related to service or due to in-service exposure.
- Dismissed
The appeal seeking readjudication of the previously denied claim for PTSD and multiple other conditions is dismissed due to a procedural defect. The Veteran's authorized representative at the time the appeal was submitted did not have the authority to file the appeal.
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