The Veteran's death was attributed to a presumptively service-connected condition due to herbicide exposure, but the appellant did not have an existing claim for accrued benefits at the time of her husband's death.
The deciding factor: There was no pending claim for disability compensation for the covered disease that was either pending before VA on May 3, 1989, or received by VA between that date and August 31, 2010.
- Claimed conditions
- hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 15, 2019
- Citation
- 19103736
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 19103736.
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 Board granted service connection for the cause of death, finding that the Veteran's end-stage chronic kidney disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and obstructive sleep apnea contributed substantially or materially to his death.
- Denied
The Board found no evidence linking the veteran's hypertension, hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, or diabetes mellitus to his service and denied the claim for service connection for the cause of death.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death, finding that there is no medical evidence linking his heart disease to service or a service-connected condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a medical opinion addressing whether the Veteran's left eye condition is related to service, as it found that the condition did not preexist service.
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