The Veteran's causes of death were not related to his service-connected conditions, and there was no evidence of herbicide exposure. The Board denied the claim for service connection for cause of death.
The deciding factor: There is no indication that any of the service-connected disabilities contributed substantially or materially to cause death, or aided or lent assistance to the production of death.
- Claimed conditions
- cardiopulmonary arrest, severe bradycardia, pulmonary embolism, gastrointestinal bleeding, lymphadenopathy, probable lymphoma/malignancy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 3, 2019
- Citation
- 19190650
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 19190650.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board granted the reinstatement of a 30% rating for cystic kidney disease, denied service connection for supraventricular tachycardia and old myocardial infarction, and denied initial ratings in excess of 10% for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death as there was no evidence linking any of the listed conditions to his military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for cause of death due to a duty-to-assist error, requiring further development.
- Granted
The Board granted an effective date of October 29, 2021, for the grant of service connection for a pulmonary embolism disability and an initial disability rating of 60 percent.
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