The Veteran's death was not caused by or substantially contributed to by any service-connected disability. The Board finds that the evidence does not support a finding of direct service connection for the cause of death.
The deciding factor: The medical opinions provided did not find any direct link between the Veteran's service-connected disabilities and his death, nor did they find any contributory effect from these conditions on his death.
- Claimed conditions
- Gastrointestinal bleeding, Severe coagulopathy, Alcohol-related cirrhosis, Thrombocytopenia, Esophageal varices
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 1, 2018
- Citation
- 1826637
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 1826637.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim for service connection for cause of death, finding that there is no evidence to support a causal relationship between the Veteran's military service and his death from gastrointestinal bleeding and hypertensive cardiovascular disease.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for the cause of death and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) to correct a pre-decisional duty-to-assist error, as the VA examinations are inadequate.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for liver cirrhosis, spleen condition, and thrombocytopenia as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected PTSD.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a new medical opinion to address the nature and etiology of the Veteran's cause of death, specifically regarding its relation to presumed herbicide agent exposure.
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