The Veteran died from atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, but service connection was not in effect for this condition at the time of his death. The surviving spouse is not entitled to VA home loan guaranty benefits as she did not establish service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death.
The deciding factor: The Veteran died from atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, but service connection was not in effect for this condition at the time of his death. The surviving spouse declined to claim service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death.
- Claimed conditions
- atherosclerotic coronary artery disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 10, 2019
- Citation
- 19102565
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.
- Partly granted
The veteran's claim for a 100% rating for heart disease was granted, but the claim for service connection for COPD was denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The claim of service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death is being remanded due to lack of a medical opinion regarding exposure and causation.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death as the result of exposure to ionizing radiation, finding no evidence linking the causes of his death (atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, diabetes, and hypertension) to his military service or exposure to ionizing radiation.
- Denied
The veteran's atherosclerotic coronary artery disease does not warrant an initial disability rating in excess of 10 percent.
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