The Board found that the Veteran's service-connected degenerative disc disease did not cause or substantially contribute to his death, and thus denied the claim for service connection for the cause of his death.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's service-connected lumbosacral spine disability did not cause his death nor did it substantially or materially contribute to the underlying cause of death (pneumonia and respiratory failure).
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative disc disease of the lumbosacral spine, Pneumonia, Respiratory failure
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 19, 2011
- Citation
- 1130867
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 1130867.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for cause of death, finding that there is no competent evidence linking any principal or contributory cause of his death to his service.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that none of the listed causes were related to his military service and no service-connected disability contributed to his death.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings for left ankle and lumbosacral spine disabilities were denied as the evidence did not meet the criteria for higher disability ratings under applicable VA rating criteria.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim of service connection for cause of death, finding that his service-connected conditions did not contribute to his death. The evidence showed well-controlled heart symptoms prior to death and no causal relationship between anxiety and cardiopulmonary disease or renal failure.
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