The Veteran's death was not caused by any service-connected disability, and the preponderance of evidence does not support a finding that COPD or hypertension were related to service.
The deciding factor: There is no medical evidence linking COPD or hypertension to service, and the Board found conflicting diagnoses in the medical records.
- Claimed conditions
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD), Diabetes Mellitus type II, Hypertensive Cardiovascular Disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- February 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19113459
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,911 · Granted: 10% (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 19113459.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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The Veteran's appeal is remanded for further development regarding his claims of service connection for PTSD, a rating increase for PTSD, and service connection for pancreatic cancer secondary to diabetes.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's TDIU and DEA claims are remanded due to duty-to-assist errors prior to the rating decision on review. The effective date for TDIU is set at January 31, 2021, based on the last day of employment. However, the RO needs to obtain SSA records regarding earnings from July 2020 to January 31, 2021, to determine if the Veteran's employment was marginal.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected conditions do not render him unable to secure or follow substantially gainful employment.
- Denied
The Board denied earlier effective dates for service connection of Diabetes Mellitus type II, Bilateral Upper Extremity Peripheral Neuropathy, and Bilateral Lower Extremity Peripheral Neuropathy as the earliest date of claim is April 5, 2024.
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