The Veteran's death was not caused by any service-connected disability, and the Board denied both his claim for dependency and indemnity compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1318 and his claim for service connection for the cause of death.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner concluded that none of the Veteran’s service connected conditions contributed to his death, and there is no medical or scientific evidence linking any of the Veteran's service-connected disabilities to his death.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic cancer, chondrosarcoma
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 5, 2019
- Citation
- 19115814
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,569 · Granted: 26% (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 19115814.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's throat cancer, which was caused by asbestos exposure in service, led to his fatal metastatic cancer. The VA is instructed to obtain a new VA opinion addressing these theories.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for chondrosarcoma, finding that there is no evidence of a link between his current condition and his military service, including exposure to herbicides or asbestos.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal was dismissed due to his death prior to a decision being made.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for chondrosarcoma, finding that his condition is etiologically related to his active-duty service and resolving all doubt in favor of the Veteran.
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