The Veteran's appeal for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for vocal cord paralysis status post thyroidectomy has been dismissed due to her death.
The deciding factor: The Veteran died during the pendency of her appeal, and as a result, the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of this appeal.
- Claimed conditions
- vocal cord paralysis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 21, 2024
- Citation
- A24067578
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,432 · 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 A24067578.
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A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot.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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for adult-onset Still's disease, vocal cord paralysis, scars, anterior neck, left knee arthritis, and right knee arthritis due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error. The Veteran is presumed to have had these conditions during his military service.
- Partly granted
The Board denied a compensable rating for papillary thyroid carcinoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma, but granted service connection for vocal cord paralysis and odynophagia as additional residual disabilities due to the service-connected nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
- Remanded (sent back)
The appeal is remanded to obtain the original signed consent document for a neck surgery in March 2022. The veteran claims VA negligence caused vocal cord paralysis and dysphonia.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for service connection for vocal cord paralysis, including as due to exposure at Camp Lejeune, is being remanded for further development and an opinion regarding the etiology of his condition.
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