The Veteran's death was caused by a subdural hematoma due to an accidental fall at home, with chronic alcoholism as the contributing cause. The Board found no evidence linking these conditions to service and denied the claim for service connection.
The deciding factor: There is no competent evidence showing that the Veteran’s subdermal hematoma or alcoholism were related to his military service.
- Claimed conditions
- Subdural hematoma, Chronic alcoholism
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 5, 2019
- Citation
- 19191054
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 19191054.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection of cause of death to obtain additional evidence regarding the Veteran's hepatitis B and its relation to his service, including potential herbicide exposure.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death, finding that his ischemic heart disease did not contribute to his subdural hematoma and subsequent death.
- Denied
The Board found that the cause of death was a subdural hematoma caused by blunt force trauma, but service connection for the cause of death is not established as neither hypertensive cardiovascular disease nor COPD were present in service or until years thereafter and are not etiologically related to service.
- Granted
The veteran's death was caused by a fall and subsequent subdural hematoma while hospitalized at the VA Medical Center, which is considered to be due to negligence. The appeal for DIC benefits has been granted.
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