The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, as a service-connected disability did not cause or contribute substantially or materially to his death.
The deciding factor: The evidence does not establish that a service-connected disability, including diabetes mellitus, caused or contributed materially or substantially to the Veteran's death, or that the cause of his death, COPD, was otherwise related to his active service or any incident therein.
- Claimed conditions
- Severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 20, 2009
- Citation
- 0906487
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,013 · Granted: 17% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted 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. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0906487.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, as a disability of service origin did not cause or contribute to his death.
- Granted
The Veteran's death was caused by his service-connected disabilities, specifically Meniere’s syndrome and the cardiovascular conditions. The Board found that these conditions aggravated his heart issues and contributed to his cause of death.
- Denied
The Board found no causal connection between the Veteran's death and any hospital care, medical or surgical treatment provided by VA. The evidence does not support a finding of fault on VA's part.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death was not due to or the result of service-connected disabilities, and there is no evidence linking his colitis disability to service.
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