The Veteran's cause of death, ventricular fibrillation and non-convulsive seizure, is not service-connected. The Board denied the claim for DIC under 38 U.S.C. § 1318 due to a total rating being in effect for less than 10 years.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's cause of death was not related to his military service or to any service-connected disability, and he did not meet the requirement of having a single service-connected disability rated as totally disabling for at least 10 years.
- Claimed conditions
- Ventricular fibrillation, Non-convulsive seizure
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- July 5, 2018
- Citation
- 18116191
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 18116191.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's cause of death was determined to be due to his service-connected tracheostomy scar, which complicated intubation and caused aspiration pneumonia with hypercapnic and hypoxic respiratory failure. The Board granted DIC benefits based on this determination.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death was due to ventricular fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, ischemic cardiomyopathy, type II diabetes mellitus, and end-stage renal disease. The Board found no evidence linking these conditions to military service or exposure to herbicide agents.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's death was attributed to heart disease, COPD, and diabetes. The appeal is remanded due to insufficient evidence of herbicide exposure in service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a lack of substantial compliance with previous remand instructions. The Veteran's cause of death is being reviewed for service connection and etiology.
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