The VA examiner concluded that the Veteran's cause of death, including his chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure, was not caused by or a result of his service-connected residuals of a shrapnel wound to the right anterior chest wall. The Board affords more weight to this opinion than to the private practitioner's opinion.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner provided a clear rationale based on review of the claims file and cited specific evidence, while the private practitioner's opinions were speculative and did not provide a clear basis for their conclusions.
- Claimed conditions
- Congestive heart failure, Cardiomyopathy, Coronary artery disease, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Anemia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 19, 2009
- Citation
- 0923229
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 0923229.
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.
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- Granted
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- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's death was caused by acute hypoxic respiratory failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, with hypertension as a significant contributing factor. The Board finds that remand is necessary to obtain the Veteran's complete military records and treatment records.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected PTSD has prevented him from securing or following substantially gainful employment since September 27, 2010. Additionally, he is in receipt of a 60 percent disability rating for coronary artery disease, which meets the criteria for SMC at the housebound rate.
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