The Board has determined that a VA medical opinion is necessary to properly adjudicate the claim for service connection for cause of death. The Veteran died in April 2011 and his death certificate indicated that the immediate causes were cardiopulmonary arrest and gastric cancer.
The deciding factor: A VA medical examiner will be needed to provide an opinion on whether the Veteran's service-connected conditions contributed to his death, specifically cardiopulmonary arrest and gastric cancer.
- Claimed conditions
- cardiopulmonary arrest, gastric cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 9, 2014
- Citation
- 1454160
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 1454160.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
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 case due to a duty to obtain a medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's death was linked to his service, including exposure to Agent Orange.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for the cause of his death, finding that there was no evidence linking any of the immediate or contributing causes of his death to his period of active duty service. The Board also found that the PACT Act did not apply in this case as the Veteran served prior to the period when herbicide agents were presumed used.
- Granted
The Veteran's cause of death, gastric cancer, is related to his exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune during service. The Board granted service connection for the cause of death based on direct service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a duty to assist error regarding the relationship between the Veteran's toxic exposure and his cause of death, gastric cancer. The VA clinician provided an inadequate opinion.
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