The Board denied service connection for the cause of death, finding that the Veteran's primary alcohol use disorder and tobacco use disorder were the causes of his death.
The deciding factor: The evidence did not show a causal relationship between the Veteran's service-connected disabilities and his death; instead, it showed that his primary alcohol use disorder and tobacco use disorder caused his death.
- Claimed conditions
- Primary alcohol use disorder, Tobacco use disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 27, 2025
- Citation
- A25018164
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,199 · Granted: 25% (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 A25018164.
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 granted a 70 percent disability rating for PTSD with opioid use disorder, sedative-hypnotics use disorder, alcohol use disorder, and tobacco use disorder due to the Veteran's occupational and social impairment with deficiencies in most areas.
- Partly granted
The Board denied an initial disability rating in excess of 70 percent for PTSD but granted TDIU and DEA effective from October 13, 2017.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected psychiatric disorder, including major depressive disorder and tobacco use disorder, was found to meet the criteria for a 100% disability evaluation effective November 9, 2020.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's death was not caused by a service-connected disability, and therefore denied entitlement to service connection for cause of death.
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