The Board finds that the veteran's death by drowning is not shown to have been suicide or related in any way to his service-connected schizophrenia, and thus denies service connection for the cause of the veteran's death.
The deciding factor: There is no contemporaneous evidence tending to show that the veteran's death was a suicide. The available medical evidence does not provide any other link between the veteran's death by drowning and his service-connected schizophrenia.
- Claimed conditions
- schizophrenia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 4, 2008
- Citation
- 0800401
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 0800401.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's schizophrenia is rated at 70 percent, indicating significant impairment in work and social functioning.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the claims for an effective date prior to August 18, 2016, for a 100 percent disability rating for schizophrenia and for spousal SMC for aid and attendance. The Veteran's claim was erroneously adjudicated by the AOJ and constitutes a free-standing earlier effective date claim.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found that the Appellant's discharge from service is not a bar to VA compensation benefits, but it was an error in fulfilling VA's duty to assist not to obtain a medical opinion addressing the extent of any psychiatric symptoms during service and their effect on the Appellant's behavior. The matter is therefore remanded for further action.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's past-due benefits from the May 2024 rating decision were not fully paid to him, and the Board has ordered VA to quickly verify and pay any remaining amounts owed.
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