The Veteran's death was not due to a service-connected disability, as there is no evidence of herbicide exposure during his service in Korea. The Board denied the claim for service connection for cause of death.
The deciding factor: There is no evidence of herbicide exposure during the Veteran's service in Korea and the Veteran did not have any service-connected disabilities that contributed to his death.
- Claimed conditions
- Diabetes mellitus, Pulmonary embolism, Deep vein thrombosis, Venous stasis due to poor mobility, Liver cirrhosis, Renal failure
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 23, 2022
- Citation
- 22054128
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 22054128.
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 Board has granted the Veteran's claim for payment or reimbursement of ambulance travel expenses incurred on June 17, 2025 due to an emergency heart attack. The ambulance service was provided by a volunteer organization and later intercepted by a higher-tier EMT company.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's death was not caused by any service-connected disability, and thus denied his claim for service connection for cause of death.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities did not preclude him from obtaining or maintaining substantially gainful employment prior to September 28, 2021. From September 28, 2021 to May 22, 2022, the Veteran had a combined total disability rating of 100%, which rendered the issue moot as he was already receiving SMC based on his service-connected disabilities.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities have prevented him from securing or following substantially gainful employment since October 1, 2009. The Board has granted an effective earlier date of October 1, 2009 for a TDIU.
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