The Board dismissed the appeal due to the death of the appellant, and no service connection was granted or denied.
The deciding factor: The appellant died during the pendency of the appeal, making it impossible for the Board to adjudicate the merits of the case.
- Claimed conditions
- acquired psychiatric disorder to include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 26, 2020
- Citation
- 20069174
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,948 · Granted: 29% (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 20069174.
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board denied a compensable disability rating for anatomical loss or injury of the mouth, lips, or tongue and remanded service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder and higher evaluation for patellar tendonitis of the left knee.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's request to reopen claims for COPD, GERD, back disability, bilateral hearing loss, headaches, and PTSD because new and relevant evidence was not received.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for service connection for undiagnosed Gulf War Illness manifested by a muscle condition, joint condition due to Gulf War (claimed as joints and muscle condition due to gulf war), skin cancer, bilateral hearing loss disability, tinnitus, and acquired psychiatric disorder to include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been dismissed.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal of service connection claims for diabetes mellitus type II, acquired psychiatric disorder (PTSD), cirrhosis of the liver, and hypertension has been dismissed due to the death of the appellant.
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