The Veteran's death was caused by a fulminant skull infection following right mastoidectomy surgery performed outside VA. The post-infection care provided by VA was highly competent and at an extraordinary level, but did not result in additional disability or death due to negligence, lack of proper skill, error in judgment, or similar instance of fault on the part of VA.
The deciding factor: The Board found that treatment administered by VA from July 3, 2012 until March 10, 2013 did not result in additional disability or death due to negligence, lack of proper skill, error in judgment, or similar instance of fault on the part of VA.
- Claimed conditions
- superinfection, aspiration
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- December 18, 2019
- Citation
- 19195273
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,200 · Granted: 43% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 19195273.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's death was not caused by service-connected conditions, and he did not have any pending claims at the time of his death. Therefore, service connection for the cause of death is denied, basic eligibility for survivor's pension (death pension) benefits are denied, and accrued benefits are also denied.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his liver disease and failure to thrive were not related to service or a service-connected disability.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for the cause of his death due to lack of confirmed herbicide exposure during active service. The Veteran died from kidney failure, but there was no evidence of Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam or Korea.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's death was not caused by any service-connected disability, and the Board denied entitlement to service connection for the cause of his death.
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