The Board has granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death and dismissed the DIC claim under 38 U.S.C. § 1318.
The deciding factor: The medical opinions provided a relative equipoise in determining whether the service-connected diabetes mellitus, type II contributed substantially and materially to the Veteran's death.
- Claimed conditions
- diabetes mellitus, type II, mycobacterium kansasii infection, lung abcess, COPD
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 17, 2019
- Citation
- 19193887
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 19193887.
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 COPD, finding that the evidence does not support a link between the Veteran's respiratory condition and his military service, including exposure to Agent Orange.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for hypertension and diabetes mellitus to obtain further medical opinions regarding their potential relationship to toxic exposures during active service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for right foot, left elbow, left hip, left ankle, and diabetes mellitus to obtain additional medical evidence.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions and a TDIU, as the evidence did not support a finding that any of these disabilities were related to the Veteran's military service.
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