The Veteran's death was not caused by a service-connected disability, and the appellant did not meet the income requirements for nonservice-connected death pension benefits.
The deciding factor: There is no evidence linking liver cancer or cardiac arrest to service, and the appellant's income exceeded the maximum annual pension rate established for payment of nonservice-connected death pension benefits.
- Claimed conditions
- liver cancer, cardiac arrest
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 29, 2019
- Citation
- 19106821
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, determining that it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran's fatal conditions were caused by his military service.
- Dismissed
The appeal for service connection for cancer of the hip bone and liver cancer is dismissed due to the Veteran's death.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for gastrointestinal cancer other than esophageal cancer and stomach cancer, brain cancer, and prostate cancer. The issues of entitlement to service connection for esophageal cancer, metastatic esophageal cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer, and liver cancer were remanded.
- Granted
The Board grants an earlier effective date of March 24, 2023, for the awards of service connection for lung cancer, kidney cancer, and liver cancer.
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