The Board granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease was caused by his service-connected disabilities.
The deciding factor: The October 2024 private opinion provided sufficient rationale to support the conclusion that the Veteran's service-connected conditions contributed to his death.
- Claimed conditions
- atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 17, 2025
- Citation
- A25089682
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 734 · Granted: 31% (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 A25089682.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, as there was no evidence that a disability incurred in or aggravated by service caused or contributed substantially to his death.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was not related to service-connected conditions, and the claim for DIC benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 1318 is denied.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was not caused or contributed to by service-connected disabilities, and therefore his cause of death is denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided that further evidence is needed to determine if the Veteran's death was caused by his service-connected conditions or if he had an acquired psychiatric disability, such as PTSD, which may have contributed to his alcoholism and cardiovascular disease.
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