The Veteran's death was caused by complications from a recommended and performed surgery, which the Board found to be negligent. The claim for dependency and indemnity compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 is granted.
The deciding factor: The recommendation for the surgery, informed consent process, pre-surgery screening adequacy, and post-operative treatment quality were all found to be substandard, leading to the Veteran's death from complications related to the surgery.
- Claimed conditions
- atherosclerosis, aneurysm, femoral artery disease, tibial level disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19189216
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 19189216.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his causes of death were not related to his military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for hypertension, coronary artery disease (CAD), atherosclerosis, kidney disease, and peripheral vascular disease of the bilateral lower extremities to obtain additional medical opinions.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection for aneurysm, degenerative spine condition (to include upper, middle, and lower), digestive condition, and memory problems with hostility issues as there was no evidence to support a finding that these conditions were related to his active duty service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection due to a duty to assist error, requiring adequate medical nexus opinions.
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