The Veteran's death was not service-connected, and the appellant is not entitled to DIC benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 1318 because he did not meet the durational requirement for a total disability rating in existence during his lifetime.
The deciding factor: The Veteran did not have any one totally disabling disability effective March 28, 2019 and did not have a continuous combined 100% disability rating prior to death.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of a left knee status-post arthroplasty, degenerative disc disease of the cervical spine, residuals of prostate cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 6, 2024
- Citation
- A24072448
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 878 · Granted: 46% (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 A24072448.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted effective dates of May 14, 2021 for service connection of residuals of prostate cancer and erectile dysfunction.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's tinnitus and bilateral hearing loss are granted as service-connected. The Veteran's cervical spine disability is remanded for further examination to determine the current severity of his condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for a compensable rating for residuals of prostate cancer is being remanded due to the failure to obtain all relevant records, including those from non-VA urology providers.
- Granted
The Veteran's residuals of prostate cancer are rated at 60 percent, and he is granted a TDIU due to his service-connected disabilities preventing him from securing or following a substantially gainful occupation.
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