The Veteran's cause of death is denied as service-connected disabilities did not contribute to his death. The Veteran was granted special monthly compensation based on the need for aid and attendance.
The deciding factor: Service connection for cause of death could not be established due to lack of evidence linking service-connected conditions to the underlying causes of death, which included chronic mesenteric ischemia and a stroke.
- Claimed conditions
- left leg shortening, bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, degenerative disc disease (DDD) of the lumbar spine with intravertebral disc syndrome (IVDS), tricompartmental arthritis of the left knee, osteoarthritis of the right knee, rheumatoid arthritis of the hips and lower back
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- September 25, 2020
- Citation
- 20063215
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 20063215.
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 Veteran's initial claim for service-connected bilateral sensorineural hearing loss was denied, and the rating assigned prior to September 12, 2024, is noncompensable.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus, thoracolumbar levoscoliosis with advanced multilevel DDD and facet arthropathy (low back disability), and cervical spine disability to include cervicalgia (neck disability) due to a lack of VA examination records and an incomplete review of service treatment records.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's service connection claims for hypertension, bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, GERD, Barrett's esophagus, and arrhythmia are remanded due to pre-decisional errors in obtaining necessary medical opinions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for service connection for hearing loss is being remanded due to pre-decisional duty-to-assist errors related to his Reserve component service.
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