The Board denied the claims for death pension, service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death, and burial benefits due to the appellant's income exceeding the maximum annual pension rate.
The deciding factor: The appellant's countable income exceeded the maximum annual pension rate in multiple years, preventing her from receiving death pension benefits. The Board also denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death as there was no medical relationship between his blood cancer and his military service or any service-connected condition.
- Claimed conditions
- respiratory failure, blood cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 27, 2018
- Citation
- 18160419
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 18160419.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a medical opinion on whether the Veteran's acute hypoxemia, respiratory failure, and pneumonia were related to service or toxic exposure under the PACT Act.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the case to obtain additional evidence, including service treatment records and private medical records, and to obtain an addendum medical opinion regarding the Veteran's causes of death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, for purposes of entitlement to dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC), due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the appeal to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors and to satisfy any statutory or regulatory duty that could aid in substantiating the claim, specifically related to asbestos exposure under the PACT Act.
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