The veteran's death was not caused by, or substantially or materially contributed to by, any service-connected disability. The Board denied the appellant's claims for service connection for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and esophageal cancer as there is no evidence of a nexus between these conditions and his military service.
The deciding factor: There is no competent medical evidence relating either chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or esophageal cancer to the veteran's time in service.
- Claimed conditions
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Esophageal Cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 17, 2008
- Citation
- 0843424
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 0843424.
What this means for you
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was not caused or contributed to by service or a service-connected disability. The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death as there was no evidence of herbicide exposure during service and no other link between the Veteran's death and his military service.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's death from esophageal cancer is due to his service-connected posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which was secondary to his cannabis use disorder. The Board found that the Veteran's cannabis use disorder caused or substantially contributed to his development of esophageal cancer, leading to his death.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was not service connected due to lack of evidence linking his conditions to service, and there is no presumption of exposure to herbicide agents (Agent Orange). The Board found the evidence did not support a grant of service connection for any condition that caused or contributed to the Veteran's death.
- Granted
The Veteran was entitled to payment or reimbursement for medical expenses incurred due to an emergency at a non-VA facility because VA facilities were not feasibly available and he had a permanent and total disability rating.
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