The Veteran's death was not service-connected due to the cause of death being attributed to ischemic bowel, respiratory failure, and kidney failure. Service connection for COPD as related to herbicide exposure is also denied.
The deciding factor: Service records do not show any chronic bowel, respiratory, or kidney disabilities during service, and post-service medical records do not link the Veteran's death to service or herbicide agent exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- Parkinson's disease, ulcerative colitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), ischemic bowel
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 14, 2024
- Citation
- 24032994
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 882 · Granted: 35% (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 24032994.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim of entitlement to service connection for a colon condition, including as caused by herbicide agent exposure or secondary to his service-connected disabilities, was denied. The Board found that the evidence did not support a finding of service connection on any basis.
- Denied
The Veteran's respiratory disability, including asthma and COPD, is denied as service connection is not warranted due to the condition being solely attributed to smoking.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted special monthly compensation (SMC) at the (o) rate and SMC at the (r)(2) rate, effective January 19, 2025. The decision finds that the Veteran's service-connected conditions warrant these awards due to his need for aid and attendance.
- Dismissed
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