The appellant is entitled to reimbursement of expenses incurred in connection with the surviving spouse's last illness (up to but not to exceed the total amount of accrued benefit owed but unpaid to the surviving spouse).
The deciding factor: The Board found that the surviving spouse's death resulted from a lingering or prolonged illness, specifically advanced dementia.
- Claimed conditions
- advanced dementia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 18, 2017
- Citation
- 1717247
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 1717247.
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.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his service-connected bilateral foot and lower extremity disabilities contributed to his death by causing a fall that resulted in a femur fracture.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his service-connected head injury substantially contributed to his development of dementia which caused his death. The decision is based on medical opinions supporting this conclusion.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death was not caused by his service-connected disabilities and he did not meet the criteria for SMC based on need for aid and attendance or housebound status.
- Denied
The Board denied reopening the claims for service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death and DIC under 38 U.S.C. § 1318 due to lack of new and material evidence.
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