The Veteran's death was caused by his service-connected hypertension, which contributed to the development of dilated cardiomyopathy. As a result, the Board has granted entitlement to service connection for the cause of death.
The deciding factor: Prolonged, uncontrolled hypertension led to the Veteran's fatal dilated cardiomyopathy, which was found to be related to his service-connected condition (hypertension).
- Claimed conditions
- cardiac arrhythmia, dilated cardiomyopathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 9, 2019
- Citation
- 19177830
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,249 · Granted: 37% (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 19177830.
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
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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The Board has dismissed the Veteran's claims for service connection for respiratory insufficiency dyspnea, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), cardiac arrhythmia, and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) as they have already been granted by a previous VA rating decision.,The Board has also dismissed the Veteran's claim for a compensable rating for allergic rhinitis due to lack of evidence showing greater than 50 percent obstruction of nasal passage on both sides or complete obstruction on one side.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for the Veteran's claimed conditions, finding that they are attributable to his time in service and supported by medical opinions. The PACT Act presumption applies.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for various conditions due to a failure to notify the Veteran of his right to a hearing before the AOJ prior to issuance of an initial decision on appeal.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for increased ratings due to insufficient evidence of record, including a lack of clinical VA and private examinations that are necessary to evaluate his service-connected disabilities under applicable rating criteria.
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