The Veteran's appeals for earlier effective dates and service connection have been dismissed due to his death.
The deciding factor: The Veteran died during the pendency of the appeal, making it impossible to adjudicate the merits of the claim.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic lung cancer, metastatic cancer to liver (clamed as liver and spleen)
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 22, 2019
- Citation
- 19165363
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 19165363.
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the service connection claims for various cancers and eye conditions due to an alleged failure to properly investigate toxic exposures during service, including at Fort Wainwright.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death to obtain additional evidence and a medical opinion.
- Granted
The Veteran's metastatic lung cancer, brain cancer metastasis, and bone cancer metastasis were rated as 100% disabling effective April 19, 2017. The Board granted an earlier effective date of April 19, 2017 for the grant of special monthly compensation (SMC) under 38 U.S.C. § 1114(p) and 38 C.F.R. § 3.350(f)(4) at the rate equal to 38 U.S.C. § 1114(m).
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death was due to metastatic lung cancer, which the Board found not attributable to service-connected conditions. The examiner opined that his lung cancer was not related to active service exposure.
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