The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient evidence regarding the Veteran's cause of death and the appellant's income for nonservice-connected survivor pension benefits. The claim is being returned for further development.
The deciding factor: The decision was not about service connection, but rather about determining whether the Veteran’s cause of death was related to his military service, including exposure to ionizing radiation during Operation CROSSROADS. Additionally, there are inconsistencies in the appellant's income information that need to be clarified.
- Claimed conditions
- Cardiorespiratory arrest, Sepsis syndrome
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 14, 2020
- Citation
- 20003372
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,902 · Granted: 11% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted 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. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 20003372.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, agreeing that his military service was a contributing factor in his death.
- Denied
The Board found that the Veteran's death was not caused or contributed to by any service-connected disability, including PTSD and right forearm disability.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's death was not caused by a service-connected disability, and thus denied the claim for service connection for the cause of death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case to determine if the appellant is entitled to accrued benefits in excess of $6,886.75 already awarded due to a lack of explanation for the assessment of expenses associated with the Veteran's last sickness.
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