The Board found that the veteran's pulmonary thromboembolism was not caused by carelessness, negligence, lack of proper skill or error in judgment on the part of VA health care providers and was a reasonably foreseeable event.
The deciding factor: The risks were disclosed to the veteran, and he signed an informed consent form. The complication was considered a known risk of knee surgery.
- Claimed conditions
- pulmonary thromboembolism
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- April 21, 2008
- Citation
- 0813147
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,464 · Granted: 14% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0813147.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for further development and opinion regarding the Veteran's claimed pulmonary disabilities, including whether they are related to service or PTSD.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient compliance with previous remand directives and the need for additional opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's pulmonary disability.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Board has granted service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, finding that his bilateral knee disabilities contributed to his wheelchair use and ultimately led to a pulmonary embolism resulting in his death. The decision is based on the benefit of doubt.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for a VA Gulf War examination to determine if any identified pulmonary disability and/or respiratory disability are medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illnesses (MUCMI) or related to service, including exposure to Gulf War environmental hazards.
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