The Board has reopened the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death due to new and material evidence. However, a remand is needed to obtain VA treatment records from September 1993 to December 1995, review by a VA physician on the etiology of HIV/AIDS, and provide an opinion regarding whether PTSD contributed to drug use.
The deciding factor: The Board has reopened the claim due to new evidence. However, further development is needed as there are conflicting reports about the Veteran's history of intravenous drug use and its relation to his service-connected PTSD.
- Claimed conditions
- AIDS
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 30, 2011
- Citation
- 1136997
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 1136997.
What this means for you
A partial grant means some issues were granted while others were denied or remanded — common in multi-issue claims. Look at which issues went which way, and how each was argued.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death was not related to his active military service, and the Board denied entitlement to service connection for the cause of death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The claim for DIC under 38 U.S.C. § 1318 is denied as the Veteran was not rated totally disabled at any point, and the death certificate lists sepsis as the immediate cause of death.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's service-connected PTSD aggravated his hypertension, which in turn contributed to his cerebrovascular disease/event and death. The Board finds this evidence is at least in equipoise, granting service connection for the cause of death.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim of entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that the diagnosed conditions were not related to his active service.
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