The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death and for burial benefits greater than $1,034.00 due to their inextricably intertwined nature with the cause of death claim.
The deciding factor: The cause of death claim is pending and requires a medical opinion regarding the etiology of the Veteran's cause of death, which includes lung cancer and acute respiratory distress syndrome.
- Claimed conditions
- Acute respiratory distress syndrome, Pneumonia
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- Gulf War
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19113682
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,549 · Granted: 29% (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 19113682.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that none of the listed causes were related to his military service and no service-connected disability contributed to his death.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim of service connection for cause of death, finding that his service-connected conditions did not contribute to his death. The evidence showed well-controlled heart symptoms prior to death and no causal relationship between anxiety and cardiopulmonary disease or renal failure.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was not caused by any service-connected disability, and the criteria for DIC under 38 U.S.C. § 1318 were not met.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the case to obtain an adequate opinion regarding the Veteran's cause of death, specifically addressing toxic exposures during service and submitted medical literature.
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