The Board denied the Veteran's DIC claim and his claim for service connection for the cause of death due to lack of evidence showing a service-connected disability caused or contributed substantially to his death from COPD.
The deciding factor: The preponderance of the evidence did not support finding that COPD began during service or was related to an in-service injury, event, or disease.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of rheumatic fever with systolic heart murmur to include nonobstructive coronary artery disease status post heart valve replacement, fractured left elbow distal humerus, bilateral high frequency hearing loss, heart valve replacement surgical scar
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 2, 2020
- Citation
- A20017849
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
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