Your appeal for service connection of interstitial lung disease has been dismissed due to the Veteran's death. The case will not be reconsidered until a new claimant is found eligible.
The deciding factor: The Veteran died during the pendency of the appeal, and per VA regulations, the Board cannot issue a decision on the underlying claim at this time.
- Claimed conditions
- Interstitial lung disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 6, 2026
- Citation
- A26000781
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 A26000781.
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his appeal for service connection of interstitial lung disease, and the appeal is dismissed.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's death was caused by interstitial lung disease, which is presumed to be related to his service-connected exposure to Agent Orange. The Board granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection of interstitial lung disease and lung nodules to obtain a clarifying medical opinion, as the previous VA examination was found to be inadequate.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for further development and re-adjudication due to an incomplete records search regarding potential service in Vietnam and inadequate explanation of why certain diagnoses were combined.
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