The Veteran's cause of death, Interstitial Lung Disease (also claimed as bronchitis), is granted due to exposure to Agent Orange. Service connection for the same condition is denied on accrued benefits purposes due to lack of evidence linking it to service or post-service exposures.
The deciding factor: Service connection was established based on direct evidence showing a link between Agent Orange exposure and Interstitial Lung Disease, but not for exposures at Camp Lejeune or contaminated water.
- Claimed conditions
- Interstitial Lung Disease, Pneumonia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 31, 2019
- Citation
- 19142047
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,104 · Granted: 28% (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 19142047.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that none of the listed causes were related to his military service and no service-connected disability contributed to his death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for a compensable rating for bilateral hearing loss has been denied.,The Veteran's claim for an initial rating in excess of 30 percent for interstitial lung disease is remanded and requires further examination.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient evidence regarding the Veteran's exposure to Agent Orange herbicides during service and the relationship between his interstitial lung disease and his military service.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim of service connection for cause of death, finding that his service-connected conditions did not contribute to his death. The evidence showed well-controlled heart symptoms prior to death and no causal relationship between anxiety and cardiopulmonary disease or renal failure.
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