The Veteran's death was not caused by a service-connected disability, and there is no evidence linking his cause of death to exposure to herbicide agents during active duty in Vietnam. The Board denied DIC benefits for the cause of the Veteran’s death.
The deciding factor: There is no direct or presumed service connection for the causes of the Veteran's death (acute bronchopneumonia, empyema, and aneurysm of sinus of Valsalva with surgical repair and aortic valve replacement).
- Claimed conditions
- acute bronchopneumonia, empyema, aneurysm of sinus of Valsalva with surgical repair and aortic valve replacement
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 27, 2019
- Citation
- 19114465
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,104 · Granted: 28% (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 19114465.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death was not service-connected, and he did not meet the requirements for DIC under U.S.C. 1318.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death (cardiac arrest, septic shock, and empyema) is not service-connected. The appellant's income exceeds the maximum annual pension rate for a surviving spouse without dependents.
- Denied
The Veteran's asthma with a history of empyema, thoracotomy, and thoracostomies was rated at 30 percent since October 1, 2005. The Board found that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on his respiratory symptoms.
- Granted
The Veteran's diabetes mellitus, presumed to be due to herbicide exposure during service, is granted for accrued benefits purposes. The non-service connected pension claim is denied as the Veteran does not meet the criteria for permanent and total disability.
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