The Board dismissed the appeal because the Veteran died before a decision could be made, and thus has no jurisdiction to proceed.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's death became known after the Board had issued its decision on the merits of the claim.
- Claimed conditions
- Hepatitis B
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 12, 2020
- Citation
- 20072772
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A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot.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 an initial compensable rating for hypertension and service connection for hearing loss, but granted service connection for hepatitis B, diabetes mellitus, type II, and diabetic peripheral neuropathy in both lower extremities.,The Board denied service connection for erectile dysfunction and sleep apnea.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for diabetes mellitus type II, hepatitis B, a liver condition (hepatic steatosis and cirrhosis) secondary to service-connected hepatitis B, hypertension, prostate cancer, voiding dysfunction as secondary to service-connected prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction as secondary to service-connected prostate cancer. The claim for anemia was remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for an extraschedular total disability evaluation based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities prior to April 30, 2020, as it needs additional medical evidence to differentiate between symptoms attributable to service-connected and non-service-connected conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection and rating appeals to cure pre-decisional duty-to-assist errors.
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This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.