The Board denied the surviving spouse's claim for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation because the Veteran was not rated totally disabled for the required periods under 38 U.S.C. § 1318, with a peak combined disability rating of 80 percent. The Board remanded three issues: entitlement to survivor's pension benefits, entitlement to TDIU based on a pending March 2020 Supplemental Claim, and entitlement to service connection for cause of death, requiring a new VA medical opinion addressing the interplay between the Veteran's ischemic heart disease, hypertension, COPD, and herbicide exposure under PACT Act provisions.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's 80 percent combined disability rating from April 2019 did not meet the DIC eligibility requirements of continuous total disability for 10 years before death or 5 years since service separation, and remand was necessary because VA failed to adjudicate pending claims in the first instance and because existing medical opinions inadequately addressed the PACT Act's presumption of herbicide-related hypertension and its potential contributory role in the Veteran's death from COPD.
- Claimed conditions
- PTSD, dysthymic disorder, diabetes mellitus type II, bilateral lower extremity sciatic nerve diabetic peripheral neuropathy, residuals of prostate cancer, erectile dysfunction, COPD, hypertension, ischemic heart disease
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- 80%
- Decision date
- April 1, 2025
- Citation
- A25029817
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 719 · Granted: 54% (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 A25029817.
What this means for you
A partial grant means some issues were granted while others were denied or remanded — common in multi-issue claims. Look at which issues went which way, and how each was argued.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board of Veterans' Appeals has granted service connection for PTSD and Mood Disorders, both presumed conditions under the PACT Act.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for diabetes mellitus type II with erectile dysfunction was denied as the evidence did not show that he had been diagnosed and manifested to at least a 10 percent disability rating on or prior to May 8, 2001.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a heart condition, including ischemic heart disease. The evidence did not support a finding of a current disability related to service.
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