The Board granted service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, finding that her autoimmune hepatitis was related to her in-service Camp Lejeune exposures.
The deciding factor: The January 2025 private medical opinion provided a more persuasive argument than the April 2018 VA opinion, considering the particulars of the Veteran's disability picture and environmental triggers.
- Claimed conditions
- autoimmune hepatitis, non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Camp Lejeune water
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 24, 2025
- Citation
- 25005583
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The appeal for service connection for depression was dismissed as it is subsumed by the already service-connected PTSD. A 50 percent rating for cluster headaches was granted, and a higher rating for autoimmune hepatitis was denied.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for autoimmune hepatitis, resolving reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran. The appeal regarding an initial compensable evaluation for hypertension was dismissed.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claim for an initial compensable evaluation for autoimmune hepatitis because the condition was asymptomatic.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a medical opinion addressing whether the Veteran's left eye condition is related to service, as it found that the condition did not preexist service.
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