The Veteran's death was caused by a service-connected condition, rheumatic heart disease. The Board granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death and also granted Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA) benefits.
The deciding factor: The Veteran died from cardiovascular failure due to rheumatic heart disease which is considered a service-connected disability as it manifested during service and was aggravated by service.
- Claimed conditions
- rheumatic heart disease
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19113661
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,726 · Granted: 19% (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 19113661.
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.
- Partly granted
The veteran's claim for service connection for rheumatic heart disease was granted. The claim for hypertensive vascular disease was remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for glaucoma, Parkinson's disease, and dementia due to potential TERA exposure. The rating for bilateral hearing loss is also being remanded.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for an earlier effective date prior to November 2, 2017, and higher ratings for his heart disability and bilateral knee disabilities have been denied. The Board found that the earliest possible effective date is November 2, 2017, when VA received the claim after final disallowance. For the knee disabilities, the evidence did not show limitation of flexion to less than 30 degrees or more exacerbations per year.
- Granted
The Veteran's rheumatic heart disease with coronary artery disease, status post stent placement is rated at 60 percent effective April 20, 2023.
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