The Board denied the Appellant's claim for accrued benefits based on a pending service connection claim for bladder and bone cancer, as no service-connected benefits were due or payable at the time of the Veteran's death.
The deciding factor: The effective date of any potential service connection would have been February 16, 2022, but the Veteran died on February 27, 2022, and thus no benefits were due or payable at the time of his death.
- Claimed conditions
- bladder cancer, bone cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 14, 2025
- Citation
- A25034129
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,762 · Granted: 24% (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 A25034129.
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 Veteran's claim for service connection for prostate cancer, bone cancer, and lymph node cancer has been granted. The prostate cancer is presumed due to herbicide agent exposure during service at RTAFB Takhli. Bone cancer is secondary to the service-connected prostate cancer. Lymph node cancer is also considered secondary to prostate cancer.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's prostate and bladder cancer rating was reduced from 100% to 40%, effective December 1, 2025. The Veteran withdrew his appeal at a Board hearing held in April 2026.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for diabetes mellitus II, ischemic heart disease, and bladder cancer due to lack of evidence supporting herbicide exposure during service.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities rendered him unable to secure and maintain substantially gainful employment prior to January 31, 2023.
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