Citation Nr: 1006483	
Decision Date: 02/22/10    Archive Date: 03/02/10

DOCKET NO.  09-11 400	)	DATE
	)
	)

On appeal from the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St. Louis, 
Missouri


THE ISSUE

Entitlement to service connection for the cause of the 
Veteran's death.


REPRESENTATION

Appellant represented by:	The American Legion


WITNESS AT HEARING ON APPEAL

Appellant




ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD

Rochelle E. Richardson, Associate Counsel


INTRODUCTION

The Veteran served on active duty from March 1954 to April 
1976.  He died in April 2008.  The appellant is his surviving 
spouse.  She appealed to the Board of Veterans' Appeals 
(Board) from a November 2008 decision of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Columbia, South 
Carolina.  The RO in St. Louis, Missouri later assumed 
jurisdiction.

The appellant testified at a Board hearing at the RO before 
the undersigned Acting Veterans Law Judge in September 2009.  
During the hearing, the appellant submitted additional 
evidence and waived her right to have the RO initially 
consider it.  See 38 C.F.R. § 20.1304(c) (2009).

Please note this appeal has been advanced on the Board's 
docket pursuant to 38 C.F.R. § 20.900(c) (2009).  38 U.S.C.A. 
§ 7107(a)(2) (West 2002).


FINDINGS OF FACT

The Veteran's service-connected hiatal hernia contributed 
substantially to his death.




CONCLUSION OF LAW

The criteria to establish entitlement to service connection 
for the cause of the Veteran's death have been met.  
38 U.S.C.A. §§ 1110, 1131, 1310, 5107 (West 2002); 38 C.F.R. 
§§ 3.303, 3.312 (2009).


REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

Duties to Notify and Assist

Under 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 5103 and 5103A (West 2002 & Supp. 2009), 
VA has certain duties to notify and assist the appellant in 
her appeal; however, given that the full benefit sought by 
the appellant is granted in this decision, further discussion 
of how VA complied with those laws is unnecessary.  

Analysis

The appellant is claiming entitlement to service connection 
for the cause of the veteran's death. 38 U.S.C.A. § 1310.  
The cause of a veteran's death will be considered to be due 
to a service-connected disability when the evidence 
establishes that such disability was either the principal or 
a contributory cause of death.  38 C.F.R. § 3.312(a).  This 
question will be resolved by the use of sound judgment, 
without recourse to speculation, after a careful analysis has 
been made of all the facts and circumstances surrounding the 
death of the veteran, including, particularly, autopsy 
reports.  38 C.F.R. § 3.312(a).  For a service-connected 
disability to be considered the principal or primary cause of 
death, it must singly, or with some other condition, be the 
immediate or underlying cause, or be etiologically related 
thereto.  38 C.F.R. § 3.312(b).  In determining whether a 
service-connected disability contributed to death, it must be 
shown that it contributed substantially or materially; that 
it combined to cause death; that it aided or lent assistance 
to the production of death.  It is not sufficient to show 
that it casually shared in producing death, but rather it 
must be shown that there was a causal connection.  38 C.F.R. 
§ 3.312(c)(1).

The immediate cause of the veteran's death was reported on 
the death certificate as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary 
Disease (COPD) and Coronary Artery Disease (CAD).  
Additionally, the death certificate listed "Hiatal hernia 
with reflex disease" as a "significant condition 
contributing to death, but not resulting in the underlying 
cause."  There are no contrary medical opinions of record.  
After resolving any benefit of the doubt under 38 U.S.C.A. 
§ 5107(b) in the appellant's favor, the Board finds that the 
Veteran's service-connected hiatal hernia substantially 
contributed to his death.  It follows that entitlement to 
service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death is 
warranted.


ORDER

Entitlement to service connection for the cause of the 
Veteran's death is granted.



____________________________________________
M. N. HYLAND
Acting Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals




 Department of Veterans Affairs