The Board denied the claim for service connection for cause of death, finding that there is no evidence linking the Veteran's cause of death to his military service or any service-connected disability.
The deciding factor: There was no medical evidence showing a causal link between the Veteran’s service and his cause of death (pulmonary thromboembolism and deep vein thrombosis).
- Claimed conditions
- pulmonary thromboembolism, deep vein thrombosis of lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 17, 2019
- Citation
- 19178753
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,548 · Granted: 31% (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 19178753.
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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- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient compliance with previous remand directives and the need for additional opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's pulmonary disability.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, finding that his bilateral knee disabilities contributed to his wheelchair use and ultimately led to a pulmonary embolism resulting in his death. The decision is based on the benefit of doubt.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for a VA Gulf War examination to determine if any identified pulmonary disability and/or respiratory disability are medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illnesses (MUCMI) or related to service, including exposure to Gulf War environmental hazards.
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