The Board has determined that the Veteran's death was caused by his service-connected rheumatic heart disease, which preexisted service and may have been aggravated during service. Therefore, the claim for service connection for the cause of death is granted.
The deciding factor: Rheumatic heart disease preexisted service and may have been aggravated during service, contributing to the Veteran's death.
- Claimed conditions
- rheumatic heart disease, squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 20, 2011
- Citation
- 1102345
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 1102345.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus and polyneuropathy in all extremities, finding no evidence linking these conditions to the Veteran's military service or a service-connected condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a new VA opinion to address whether the Veteran's squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus is related to his service, including exposure to warehouse chemicals and herbicide agents.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus, finding that the evidence did not support a causal relationship between the Veteran's condition and his military service or exposure to contaminants at Camp Lejeune.
- Partly granted
The veteran's claim for service connection for rheumatic heart disease was granted. The claim for hypertensive vascular disease was remanded.
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