The Board denied the appellant's claims for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death and entitlement to Dependency and Indemnity Compensation under 38 U.S.C.A. § 1318, as there was no evidence that a disability of service origin or a service-connected disability caused or contributed to the veteran's death.
The deciding factor: The Board found that neither myelodysplastic syndrome nor acute myelogenous leukemia were incurred in or aggravated by active military service and are not etiologically related to any in-service injury or disease, including herbicide exposure during service in Vietnam.
- Claimed conditions
- Myelodysplastic syndrome, Acute myelogenous leukemia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- February 9, 2009
- Citation
- 0904547
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,036 · Granted: 27% (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 0904547.
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 Veteran's case is being remanded due to a duty-to-assist error and the inextricability of his TDIU claim with his MDS residuals.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, as there was no evidence to support a finding that the Veteran's death was related to his active service or any in-service injury or disease.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board denied the appellant's claim for entitlement to nonservice-connected (NSC) survivor's pension benefits due to a lack of active service during a period of war. The case was remanded to further investigate potential toxic exposure and obtain additional medical evidence regarding the Veteran's cause of death.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a medical opinion to determine if the Veteran's death was attributable to VA care, specifically an incompatible blood transfusion.
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