The Board denied the claim of entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding no evidence that his death was caused by a disability incurred in service.
The deciding factor: There is insufficient medical evidence to establish a causal connection between the Veteran’s asbestos exposure during service and his death from end stage COPD.
- Claimed conditions
- End stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 12, 2019
- Citation
- 19117713
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,077 · Granted: 25% (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 19117713.
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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 Veteran's death was due to contaminated water exposure at Camp Lejeune, and the Board has ordered a remand for further investigation.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim of entitlement to service connection for the cause of the veteran's death, finding that there was no evidence linking the cause of death (end stage COPD) to either service or a service-connected disability.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the veteran's death was caused by end stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is service-connected due to his nicotine dependence developed during military service. The Board granted the claim of service connection for the cause of the veteran's death.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the appellant's claim of service connection for the cause of the veteran's death is well grounded and will be further developed.
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