The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a lower abdominal disability, including cirrhosis, hepatitis C, pancreatitis, and a stomach condition, finding that there is no evidence to support a causal relationship between these conditions and his military service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner concluded that the Veteran’s disorders are more likely caused by post-military alcohol use and trauma, rather than any in-service injury or illness.
- Claimed conditions
- cirrhosis, hepatitis C, pancreatitis, stomach condition
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19150106
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,011 · Granted: 24% (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 19150106.
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.
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- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's death was not caused by or substantially contributed to by any service-connected disability, and thus denied the claim for service connection for cause of death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has dismissed the appeal for accrued benefits and has remanded the issue of service connection for cause of death, as there was a duty to assist error related to obtaining a medical nexus opinion regarding in-service herbicide agent exposure.
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