The Veteran's death was caused by complications of a blood transfusion, specifically Transfusion Related Acute Lung Injury (TRALI). The Board found that the VA did not exercise proper care in administering the blood transfusions and thus denied service connection for the cause of death.
The deciding factor: The VA failed to exercise the degree of care expected from a reasonable health care provider, resulting in the Veteran's death due to Transfusion Related Acute Lung Injury (TRALI).
- Claimed conditions
- Brain herniation, Respiratory arrest, Cardiac arrest
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 30, 2020
- Citation
- 20008239
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 961 · Granted: 20% (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 20008239.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's death was not caused by any service-connected disability, and therefore denied entitlement to service connection for the cause of his death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's death was not due to service-connected conditions, and the Board is remanding for further development of evidence regarding the cause of death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter to obtain relevant SSA records that could provide information pertinent to the Veteran's appeal.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding no evidence that a disability incurred in or aggravated by service either caused or contributed substantially to his cardiac arrest.
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