The Board finds that the veteran's death was not caused by a service-connected disability, and thus denied DIC benefits under Section 1310. The claim for compensation benefits under Section 1151 is also denied as there is no evidence showing VA negligence contributed to the cause of death. Basic eligibility for DEA Program under Chapter 35 is also denied.
The deciding factor: The Board determined that atherosclerotic heart disease and diabetes mellitus did not manifest during service or within one year of separation, and are not shown to be causally related to service. The veteran's death was attributed to acute myocardial infarction due to atherosclerotic heart disease.
- Claimed conditions
- Atherosclerotic heart disease, Diabetes mellitus, Hypercholesterolemia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 28, 2008
- Citation
- 0817470
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 0817470.
What this means for you
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for payment or reimbursement of ambulance travel expenses incurred on June 17, 2025 due to an emergency heart attack. The ambulance service was provided by a volunteer organization and later intercepted by a higher-tier EMT company.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's death was not caused by any service-connected disability, and thus denied his claim for service connection for cause of death.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities did not preclude him from obtaining or maintaining substantially gainful employment prior to September 28, 2021. From September 28, 2021 to May 22, 2022, the Veteran had a combined total disability rating of 100%, which rendered the issue moot as he was already receiving SMC based on his service-connected disabilities.
- Granted
The Board has restored a 60 percent disability rating for ischemic heart disease, coronary artery disease, and atherosclerotic heart disease (IHD) effective September 13, 2023. The decision concludes that the reduction in rating from 60 percent to 30 percent was not proper due to actual improvement in the Veteran's condition under ordinary conditions of life and work.
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