The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for his cause of death, finding that there was no evidence linking any of his terminal conditions to military service or his service-connected disability.
The deciding factor: The VA medical opinion found that the Veteran’s service-connected disability did not cause or contribute to his death and that there is no evidence relating any of these terminal conditions to service.
- Claimed conditions
- aspirational pneumonia, right lower lobe community-acquired pneumonia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 19, 2020
- Citation
- 20042017
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 20042017.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected fibromyalgia was found to be a substantial contributing factor to her cause of death, which included aspiration pneumonia and respiratory distress syndrome. The Board granted the claim for service connection based on direct service connection.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection of his cause of death for purposes of entitlement to DIC benefits due to a lack of evidence linking any in-service incident, illness or injury to his causes of death. The Board also remanded the issue of survivor's pension benefits based on countable income.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran was exposed to herbicide agents during his service in Thailand and finds that his death was caused by these exposures. As a result, the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death is granted.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board is remanding the case to obtain additional medical records and provide a VA physician with information to determine if any of the primary or contributing causes of death were related to chronic lung disorders, including tuberculosis. The decision will be based on whether these conditions are service-connected.
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