The Veteran's death was not caused by a service-connected disability, and the appellant did not meet the criteria for nonservice-connected burial benefits. The claim is denied.
The deciding factor: There is no medical evidence linking the Veteran’s fatal conditions to his military service.
- Claimed conditions
- Toxic megacolon, Clostridium difficile
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 17, 2019
- Citation
- 19146967
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,196 · Granted: 17% (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 19146967.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
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 death due to hepatic failure and clostridium difficile, finding that there was no evidence linking these conditions to military service.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claim for COPD is granted. An additional VA medical opinion is needed to address the etiology of any other diagnosed intestinal disorders.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claim for payment or reimbursement of unauthorized medical expenses due to lack of prior authorization and the fact that the veteran was stable enough to be transferred to a VA facility by May 27, 2005.
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