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
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,044 · Granted: 21% (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 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.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for autoimmune hepatitis and rheumatoid arthritis, both found to be related to the Veteran's in-service toxic exposures at Camp Lejeune.
- 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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for autoimmune hepatitis and systemic lupus erythematosus to obtain additional VA medical opinions considering studies submitted by the Veteran.
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