Citation Nr: 20008066 Decision Date: 01/30/20 Archive Date: 01/30/20 DOCKET NO. 16-58 633A DATE: January 30, 2020 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for cause of the Veteran’s death is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran had active service from September 1964 to September 1984. 1. Entitlement to service connection for cause of the Veteran’s death is remanded. The appellant is the Veteran’s widow who contends that the Veteran’s death is due to conditions developed during active service or to exposure to chemicals such as herbicide agents. The Veteran died in March 2014. 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. Service connection may be granted for a disability resulting from a disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a). Entitlement to service connection requires: (1) evidence of a current disability; (2) evidence of in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) evidence of a nexus between the in-service disease or injury and the current disability. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a); Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Although the Veteran was not service connected for any disabilities at the time of his death, the Board must consider whether service connection is warranted for any disabilities listed on the death certificate as cause of death or contributory cause of death. The causes of death listed on the death certificate are cardiac and respiratory arrest, septic shock, and necrotizing fasciitis; significant conditions listed as contributing to death are chronic venous stasis, morbid obesity, and chronic respiratory failure. The Veteran’s STRs show he served 20 years and was assigned multiple times to weight loss programs due to being obese over the course of service and also had multiple high blood pressure readings in service. The Veteran’s medical records document high blood pressure since active service and continuing to death. The Board also acknowledges that the Veteran’s death certificate lists morbid obesity as a contributing cause of death. However, obesity is not recognized by VA as a disability for compensation purposes. See 38 U.S.C. § 1110. As such, a current diagnosis cannot be established for obesity. A current diagnosis is a cornerstone of a service connection claim. Brammer v. Derwinski, 3 Vet. App. 223, 225 (1992). There is a March 2019 VA opinion listing morbid obesity as contributing to the death that developed due to lifestyle choices and subsequently causing venous insufficiency and venous leg ulcers. The opinion addresses the appellant’s contention that herbicide agents or chemicals contributed to the Veteran’s death. However, the opinion does not address that high blood pressure had been noted during many years of the Veteran’s active service and continuing until his death and whether it was related to the Veteran’s causes of death, specifically, the cardiac arrest. The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain an addendum opinion from an appropriate clinician regarding whether the Veteran’s blood pressures readings during service are indicative of a hypertension disability. If so, was the Veteran’s hypertension disability an immediate or underlying cause of death? In answering this question, the examiner should address whether hypertension contributed substantially or materially to the Veteran’s death or aided or lent assistance to the production of death. DAVID L. WIGHT Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board E. Miller, Associate Counsel The Board’s decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.