The Veteran's death was caused by suicide due to chronic pain from his service-connected disabilities, and he meets the criteria for service connection for cause of death. The appellant is also eligible for Dependents' Educational Assistance under Chapter 35.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's death was a result of suicide due to chronic pain from his service-connected disabilities, which meet the criteria for service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- migraine headaches, residuals of low back injury with lumbar disc disease, residuals of tendon and nerve injury to left forearm and hand, hepatitis with chronically elevated liver function tests, residuals of compression fracture, thoracic spine T-8, residual scars, laceration injuries to left forearm and hand, residuals of dislocation injury
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 22, 2009
- Citation
- 0940043
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 0940043.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for bilateral hearing loss, migraine headaches, and PTSD due to additional development of records and examination.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases for additional development due to incomplete medical records and insufficient opinions regarding the relationship between service, including a stick injury in England, and current left eye disability (including amblyopia and cataracts) as well as migraine headaches.
- Granted
The Veteran's migraine headaches are productive of very frequent, completely prostrating and prolonged attacks capable of producing severe economic inadaptability. The Board has granted a 50 percent disability rating for the Veteran's service-connected migraine headaches.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for a higher rating for his service-connected migraine headaches was granted with an effective date of February 28, 2023.
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