The Veteran's death was caused by VA's negligent care following surgery in January 2004, resulting in a pulmonary embolus and deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Service connection for the left foot disorder, back disorder, left knee disorder, left hip disorder, and asbestos exposure is denied as there is no evidence of service incurrence or aggravation.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's death was caused by VA's negligence in providing proper care following surgery, which led to a pulmonary embolus and DVT. There is no evidence that any of the claimed conditions were incurred or aggravated during active service.
- Claimed conditions
- left foot disorder, back disorder, left knee disorder, left hip disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 8, 2019
- Citation
- 19161356
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 3,217 · Granted: 46% (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 19161356.
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
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Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims of entitlement to service connection for headaches, right hip disorder, left hip disorder, back disorder, and an acquired psychiatric disorder due to a failure to provide notice regarding the Veteran's right to a hearing.
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