BVA9500917 DOCKET NO. 93-09 060 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Manila, Philippines THE ISSUE Entitlement to service connection for the cause of the veteran's death. ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Alice A. Booher, Counsel INTRODUCTION The veteran had active service from December 1941 to September 1942, and from May 1945 to March 1946. This appeal is taken from the rating action by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Manila, Philippines, in January 1993. CONTENTIONS OF APPELLANT ON APPEAL It is argued, in substance, that complications of the veteran's service-connected wounds contributed to or caused his death, or that his death resulted from disease of service origin. DECISION OF THE BOARD The Board, in accordance with the provisions of 38 U.S.C.A. § 7104 (West 1991), has reviewed and considered all of the evidence and material of record in the veteran's claims file. Based on its review of the relevant evidence in this matter, and for the following reasons and bases, it is the decision of the Board that the appellant's claim for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death is not well-grounded. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. All relevant evidence necessary for an equitable disposition of the appeal has been obtained by the RO. 2. Pulmonary tuberculosis which caused the veteran's death was not demonstrated during service or for many years after service and is unrelated to his service-connected wound residuals. CONCLUSION OF LAW The appellant's claim for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death is not well-grounded. 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 1310, 5107(a) (West 1991); 38 C.F.R. § 3.312 (1993). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION In Boeck v. Brown, 6 Vet.App. 14 (1993), the United States Court of Veterans Appeals (the Court) held that A veteran claiming entitlement to VA benefits has the burden of submitting evidence sufficient to justify a belief by a fair and impartial individual that the claim is well grounded. See 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107, and see Tirpak v. Derwinski, 2 Vet. App. 609, 610-11 (l992). If a claim is not well grounded, the Board does not have jurisdiction to adjudicate that claim. See Grottveit v. Brown, 5 Vet. App. 91, 93 (1993). The appellant is seeking service connection for the cause of the veteran's death. The veteran's death at age 74 on February 2, 1992 was shown on the death certificate as due to tuberculosis. Service connection was in effect at the time of his death as follows: Residuals, gunshot wound to the left buttock with injury to Muscle Group XVII, evaluated as 20 percent disabling; and residuals, gunshot wound to the right buttock with injury to Muscle Group XVII; residuals, bayonet wound to the right upper back with injury to Muscle Group II; and residuals, bayonet wound to the right upper back with injury to Muscle Group XX, all evaluated as zero percent disabling from 1975. To establish service connection for the cause of the veteran's death, the evidence must show that the disability incurred in or aggravated by service either caused or contributed substantially or materially to cause death. For a service-connected disability to be the cause of death, it must singly or with some other condition be the immediate or underlying cause, or be etiologically related thereto. For a service-connected disability to constitute a contributory cause, 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 U.S.C.A. § 1310; 38 C.F.R. § 3.312. The veteran's service medical records show no evidence of tuberculosis and a lung examination therein was normal. Neither was pulmonary tuberculosis claimed or demonstrated for many years after service, and affidavits provided by two service comrades, and other private and VA records do not show otherwise. At the earliest, pulmonary tuberculosis was first treated in 1969. This, according to a written statement made by the veteran on his May 1973 VA medical examination report. While both the veteran's son and his wife have expressed the opinion that the veteran's death was due to or contributed to by service-connected wound residuals or somehow otherwise related to service, as lay persons, neither is qualified to determine medical causation. See Espiritu v. Derwinski, 2 Vet App. 492 (1992). Moreover, there is no medical evidence or opinion of record to support these contentions. In reaching its decision, the Board has taken into consideration the veteran's service records and post-service clinical and other data. In light of the absence of pulmonary tuberculosis until many years after separation from service, and without any medical evidence or opinion to support any relationship between the veteran's service-connected disabilities and the cause of his death, the Board finds that the appellant's claim for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death is not well- grounded and therefore must be dismissed. If the appellant were to submit medical evidence relating pulmonary tuberculosis to service or that shows tuberculosis disease in proximity to service, her claim in this regard would be well grounded. Robinette v. Brown, No. 93-985 (U.S. Vet. App. Oct. 21, 1994). ORDER The claim for service connection for the cause of the veteran's death is dismissed. RENÉE M. PELLETIER Member, Board of Veterans' Appeals The Board of Veterans' Appeals Administrative Procedures Improvement Act, Pub. L. No. 103-271, § 6, 108 Stat. 740, ___ (1994), permits a proceeding instituted before the Board to be assigned to an individual member of the Board for a determination. This proceeding has been assigned to an individual member of the Board. NOTICE OF APPELLATE RIGHTS: Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7266 (West 1991), a decision of the Board of Veterans' Appeals granting less than the complete benefit, or benefits, sought on appeal is appealable to the United States Court of Veterans Appeals within 120 days from the date of mailing of notice of the decision, provided that a Notice of Disagreement concerning an issue which was before the Board was filed with the agency of original jurisdiction on or after November 18, 1988. Veterans' Judicial Review Act, Pub. L. No. 100-687, § 402 (1988). The date which appears on the face of this decision constitutes the date of mailing and the copy of this decision which you have received is your notice of the action taken on your appeal by the Board of Veterans' Appeals.