Citation Nr: 18144153 Decision Date: 10/24/18 Archive Date: 10/23/18 DOCKET NO. 16-25 300 DATE: October 24, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death is denied. FINDING OF FACT 1. The Veteran died on September [redacted], 2012, due to an immediate cause of cardiopulmonary arrest due to complications of cerebrovascular disease with malignancy right kidney and advanced peripheral vascular disease. 2. During his lifetime, service connection was not in effect for any disability. 3. The cause of the Veteran’s death has not been shown by competent evidence to be related to his service or any event of service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for establishing service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death have not been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 1310, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.312. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from April 1953 to April 1955. The appellant is the surviving spouse. This case comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a January 2013 administrative decision issued by the St. Paul, Minnesota, Regional Office (RO) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death The death of a Veteran will be considered to have been due to a service-connected disability where the evidence establishes that a disability was either the principal or the contributory cause of death. 38 C.F.R. § 3.312(a). A principal cause of death is one which, singly or jointly with some other condition, was the immediate or underlying cause of death or was etiologically related thereto. 38 C.F.R. § 3.312(b). A contributory cause of death is one which contributed substantially or materially to cause death, or aided or lent assistance to the production of death. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.312(c). Determinations as to whether service connection may be granted for a disability that caused or contributed to a Veteran’s death are based on the same statutory and regulatory provisions that generally govern determinations of service connection. See 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309. Service connection may be granted for disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). As a general matter, service connection for a disability requires evidence of: (1) the existence of a current disability; (2) the existence of the disease or injury in service, and; (3) a relationship or nexus between the current disability and any injury or disease during service. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163 (Fed. Cir. 2004). As an initial matter, a February 2016 VA correspondence reflects that the VA had been unable to obtain the Veteran’s service treatment records. The Board is mindful that, in a case such as this, where some service treatment records are unavailable, there is a heightened obligation to explain our findings and conclusions and to consider carefully the benefit-of-the-doubt rule. Cuevas v. Principi, 3 Vet. App. 542, 548 (1992); see also O’Hare v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 365, 367 (1991). While it is unfortunate that the Veteran’s service treatment records are unavailable, this appeal must be decided on the evidence of record and, where possible, the Board’s analysis has been undertaken with this heightened obligation set forth in Cuevas and O’Hare in mind. The Veteran’s death certificate indicates that his cause of death was cardiopulmonary arrest due to complications of cerebrovascular disease with malignancy right kidney and advanced peripheral vascular disease. The Board notes that the Veteran did not have any service-connected disabilities at the time of his death in September 2012. In a March 2013 correspondence, the appellant noted that the Veteran served in the Korean War. She asserted that the Veteran was exposed to extreme cold weather and experienced arthritis and cold sensations, since service, which later contributed to his diagnosis of peripheral vascular disease. After carefully reviewing the evidence of record, the Board finds that entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death is not warranted. The first evidence in the file of impressions of peripheral arterial disease and right renal mass and a diagnosis of cerebrovascular disease is from in September 2012 private medical notes, just a few days prior to the Veteran’s death, and 57 years after his separation from service. However, there is no probative and persuasive evidence of record etiologically relating the cause of the Veteran’s death to active service or any event of active service. The Board must conclude that there is no basis for service connection for the cause of the veteran’s death on a direct basis. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.312. The Board does not doubt the sincerity of the appellant’s belief that the Veteran’s death was somehow related to his active duty service. While sympathetic to the appellant’s claim, the only evidence of record tending to support her claim for service consists of her own lay statements. The record confirms that service connection was not in effect for any condition prior to the Veteran’s death. The appellant is not competent to assert that the Veteran’s cause of death was etiologically related to the Veteran’s active service, as she lacks medical training or credentials. See Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F.3d 1372, 1377 (Fed. Cir. 2007); see also Layno v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 465, 469 (1994). In the absence of competent evidence supporting the claim, the Board would further note that there is no basis for soliciting a VA opinion as to causation in this case. 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(c)(4). As the preponderance of the evidence is against the claim, the benefit of the doubt doctrine is not applicable in the instant appeal, and the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death is denied. See 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. § 3.102; Ortiz v. Principi, 274 F.3d 1361, 1364 (Fed. Cir. 2001); Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49, 55-57 (1990). A. C. MACKENZIE Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD A-L Evans, Counsel