The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death, finding that none of his service-connected disabilities contributed to his causes of death.
The deciding factor: There is no medical evidence confirming or even suggesting any relationship between any of the disabilities and his service. The Veteran's death due to acute respiratory failure, obstructive sleep apnea, hypercapnia, hypoxia, morbid obesity, and congestive heart failure has not been shown to be at least as likely as not related to his military service or to-service-connected disability.
- Claimed conditions
- Acute respiratory failure, Obstructive sleep apnea, Hypercapnia, Hypoxia, Morbid obesity, Congestive heart failure
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 19, 2019
- Citation
- 19131016
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,050 · Granted: 23% (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 19131016.
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 claims for service connection due to a duty to assist error, specifically regarding whether the Veteran's current conditions are aggravated by his service-connected DDD of the lumbosacral spine. The AOJ is required to obtain new medical opinions addressing this issue.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for initial compensable ratings for obstructive sleep apnea and headaches, finding that the evidence does not support a finding of persistent daytime hypersomnolence or other manifestations consistent with a compensable disability rating under the criteria established by Diagnostic Codes. The matter is remanded to obtain additional information from the Veteran regarding his headaches and their impact on his daily life.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for heart condition was granted with an effective date of August 1, 2019. The decision is based on evidence showing exposure to diesel and gas fuel during service.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection of obstructive sleep apnea as secondary to his service-connected residuals of left foot 5th metatarsal fracture.
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