The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death due to lack of evidence showing a chronic disorder during or within one year after his discharge from service. The claim was also denied for accrued benefits and VA death pension.
The deciding factor: The appellant failed to provide new and material evidence to reopen her previously denied claims for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, accrued benefits, and VA death pension.
- Claimed conditions
- Respiratory arrest, Metabolic acidosis, Alcoholic liver disease with ascites and probable varices
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 25, 2019
- Citation
- 19106088
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,196 · Granted: 17% (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 19106088.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 due to conflicting medical evidence and a need for further development regarding the etiology of the Veteran's congestive heart failure, anca vasculitis, kidney failure, metabolic acidosis, and diabetic nephropathy.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of death on a direct basis, finding that there was not sufficient evidence to establish causation due to VA medical care. The Veteran's death was attributed to transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI), which is a known complication of blood transfusions.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was caused by complications of a blood transfusion, specifically Transfusion Related Acute Lung Injury (TRALI). The Board found that the VA did not exercise proper care in administering the blood transfusions and thus denied service connection for the cause of death.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's death was due to an event not reasonably foreseeable, specifically a blood stream infection in his debilitated condition. As such, compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for the cause of the Veteran's death is granted.
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