The Veteran's death was due to pulmonary hypertension and chronic kidney disease. The claim for service connection for a low back disability, which was pending at the time of his death, has been granted with a 10% rating effective March 2, 2009. As a result, the appeal for nonservice-connected burial benefits is granted.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's low back disability claim was granted and assigned a rating, which satisfies the service connection requirement for nonservice-connected burial benefits.
- Claimed conditions
- Pulmonary hypertension, Chronic kidney disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- November 7, 2019
- Citation
- 19184396
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 940 · Granted: 21% (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 19184396.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's chronic kidney disease is rated at 60 percent throughout the appeal period. The claim for TDIU was denied due to lack of information regarding employment history.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected conditions do not meet the criteria for special monthly compensation based on the need of regular aid and attendance due to his psychiatric symptoms.
- Granted
The Veteran's chronic kidney disease was granted an increased rating to 60 percent effective June 19, 2025. The decision is based on GFR results from July, August and September 2025.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for chronic kidney disease was granted with an effective date of June 1, 2017. This is the earliest date that medical evidence showed a diagnosis of chronic kidney disease as secondary to his diabetes mellitus.
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