The Board has granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his death was not due to willful misconduct and was incurred in the line of duty.
The deciding factor: There is no direct evidence showing drug use as a direct factor in causing the Veteran’s demise, but the Board can only conclude that the Veteran’s death was not the result of his willful misconduct and was incurred in the line of duty.
- Claimed conditions
- Drug use, Drowning
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 15, 2019
- Citation
- 19103549
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,249 · Granted: 37% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 19103549.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a failure in obtaining a final death certificate and autopsy report, which are necessary for determining the cause of the Veteran's death.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's death was not due to his own willful misconduct, and therefore the presumption of service connection for the cause of death applies. The Veteran died from drowning while on active duty.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the death of the service member was not in line of duty due to willful misconduct, but a new review by the Department of the Army suggests it should be considered in line of duty. The appellant contends that the Veteran suffered from psychiatric disabilities as a result of his service which led to drug overdose. The Board now requires a VA medical opinion to determine if the drug abuse was caused or aggravated by a service-connected psychiatric disability.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the veteran's death, entitlement to accrued benefits, and basic eligibility for non-service connected VA pension benefits. The decision found that there was no evidence linking the veteran's death to any service-connected condition or exposure.
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