The Board denied the appellant's claims for service connection for the cause of death and entitlement to DIC under 38 U.S.C. § 1318, finding no new and material evidence to reopen the claim and that the Veteran was not entitled to a total disability rating for at least 5 years prior to his death.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the additional lay evidence received did not relate to an unestablished fact necessary to substantiate the claim as explained above, thus it is not new and material. The Veteran's service-connected disabilities were not rated totally disabling for any time period preceding his death, and he was not entitled to a total disability rating based on hypothetical entitlement.
- Claimed conditions
- hypertensive cardiovascular disease, gunshot wound (GSW) residuals to the left hip and right foot
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- March 5, 2009
- Citation
- 0908216
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,592 · Granted: 19% (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 0908216.
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: Granted
The Veteran's hypertension is related to herbicide exposure during service and contributed substantially to his cause of death.,Service connection for both hypertension and the cause of death (hypertensive cardiovascular disease) is granted.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death and entitlement to VA DIC under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 due to a need for further evaluation regarding the relationship between any identified pulmonary/respiratory disability, including bronchial asthma, and active service.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board has denied service connection for the cause of death and remanded the issue of a compensable disability rating for bilateral defective hearing.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided that the cause of the Veteran's death is related to his service-connected disabilities, but further medical opinion is needed to determine if these conditions contributed substantially or materially to his death.
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