The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for the cause of his death due to lack of confirmed herbicide exposure during active service. The Veteran died from kidney failure, but there was no evidence of Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam or Korea.
The deciding factor: There is no confirmation of herbicide exposure during the Veteran's service, which is a requirement for presumptive service connection under VA regulations.
- Claimed conditions
- kidney failure, decompensated liver failure/cirrhosis, lower gastrointestinal bleed, urosepsis, aspiration
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 22, 2019
- Citation
- 19139934
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,515 · Granted: 20% (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 19139934.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for a right shoulder pain disability and denied the claims for erectile dysfunction, left shoulder condition, diabetes, kidney failure, and stomach upper and lower conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that new and relevant evidence has been received to readjudicate the previously denied claims of service connection for hypertension and kidney failure. The AOJ is required to consider this new evidence in deciding these claims.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for hypertension and kidney failure due to potential exposure to herbicides during service. The appellant must provide a new TERA memorandum addressing his claimed exposure, specifically considering the January 2024 Gagetown Commission Report.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for service connection are remanded due to the need for additional medical opinions regarding his claimed conditions and their relationship to service. The AOJ will obtain a medical opinion on whether the Veteran has residuals of rhabdomyolysis, as well as readjudicate all issues related to service connection.
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