The Veteran's death was not service-connected, and the claim for burial allowance based on a non-service-connected death is denied. The claim for reimbursement of transportation expenses to bury the Veteran in a national cemetery is granted.
The deciding factor: The Veteran died from a service-connected condition (prostate cancer), but he was receiving VA disability compensation at the time of his death, which qualifies him for burial allowance reimbursement under VA regulations.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of prostate cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 13, 2019
- Citation
- 19193951
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 19193951.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for residuals of prostate cancer, finding no evidence that the Veteran's condition was related to his active military service or exposure to ionizing radiation.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for kidney cancer as secondary to the service-connected hypertension and granted a total rating based on individual employability due to service-connected disabilities from March 19, 2024. Other claims were denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection of residuals of prostate cancer to ensure that the case is forwarded to the Under Secretary for Benefits for consideration under 38 C.F.R. § 3.311.
- Granted
The Board granted presumptive service connection for residuals of prostate cancer under the PACT Act due to the Veteran's presumed exposure to burn pit toxins during his service in Kuwait.
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