The Veteran's cause of death, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, was not related to service and the VA treatment did not contribute to his death. Therefore, service connection for the cause of death is denied.
The deciding factor: Service connection for the cause of death was not established as the cause (upper gastrointestinal bleeding) was not incurred in or aggravated by service and there was no evidence that VA care caused the Veteran's death.
- Claimed conditions
- upper gastrointestinal bleeding
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- July 2, 2019
- Citation
- 19151022
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,017 · Granted: 36% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 19151022.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to incomplete records and the need for additional medical opinions regarding the Veteran's cause of death.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided that the Veteran's death was not caused by service-connected conditions, and thus remanded to obtain a medical opinion regarding the cause of his death.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinions regarding whether the Veteran's cause of death was related to service, specifically a cyst on his left arm. The appellant must provide any outstanding private medical records from the Veteran’s Memorial Medical Center and VA will obtain them.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that there was no direct evidence linking his death to service. The Board also found that he did not engage in combat with the enemy during service and thus could not establish service connection based on this theory.
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