The Veteran's death was not caused by a service-connected disability or due to VA treatment, and the cause of death (respiratory failure with secondary colon cancer) is unrelated to his service.,VA failed to diagnose a fatal condition that contributed to the Veteran's death.
The deciding factor: The Board found no evidence that the Veteran’s death was caused by carelessness, negligence, lack of proper skill, error in judgment or similar instance of fault on VA's part. The cause of death (respiratory failure with secondary colon cancer) is unrelated to his service-connected conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- osteomyelitis of the left lower extremity, fractured and malaligned left tibia and fibula with limitations of the left ankle
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 21, 2019
- Citation
- 19139540
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,890 · Granted: 32% (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 19139540.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board finds that the veteran's service-connected injuries are related to his severe lymphedema, peripheral vascular disease, and osteomyelitis. Therefore, service connection is granted for a vascular injury and lymphedema to the lower extremities; and osteomyelitis of the left lower extremity, to include as secondary to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The VA has determined that new and material evidence has not been submitted to reopen the veteran's claim for service connection for osteomyelitis of the left lower extremity.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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