[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 38, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 38CFR3.312]

[Page 245-246]
 
            TITLE 38--PENSIONS, BONUSES, AND VETERANS' RELIEF
 
                CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
 
PART 3--ADJUDICATION--Table of Contents
 
     Subpart A--Pension, Compensation, and Dependency and Indemnity 
                              Compensation
 
Sec. 3.312  Cause of death.

    (a) General. The death of a veteran will be considered as having 
been due to a service-connected disability when the evidence establishes 
that such disability was either the principal or a contributory cause of 
death. The issue involved will be determined by exercise 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.
    (b) Principal cause of death. The service-connected disability will 
be considered as the principal (primary) cause of death when such 
disability, singly or jointly with some other condition, was the 
immediate or underlying cause of death or was etiologically related 
thereto.
    (c) Contributory cause of death. (1) Contributory cause of death is 
inherently one not related to the principal cause. In determining 
whether the 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.
    (2) Generally, minor service-connected disabilities, particularly 
those of a static nature or not materially affecting a vital organ, 
would not be held to have contributed to death primarily due to 
unrelated disability. In the same category there would be included 
service-connected disease or injuries of any evaluation (even though 
evaluated as 100 percent disabling) but of a quiescent or static nature 
involving muscular or skeletal functions and not materially affecting 
other vital body functions.
    (3) Service-connected diseases or injuries involving active 
processes affecting vital organs should receive careful consideration as 
a contributory cause of death, the primary cause being unrelated, from 
the viewpoint of whether there were resulting debilitating effects and 
general impairment of health

[[Page 246]]

to an extent that would render the person materially less capable of 
resisting the effects of other disease or injury primarily causing 
death. Where the service-connected condition affects vital organs as 
distinguished from muscular or skeletal functions and is evaluated as 
100 percent disabling, debilitation may be assumed.
    (4) There are primary causes of death which by their very nature are 
so overwhelming that eventual death can be anticipated irrespective of 
coexisting conditions, but, even in such cases, there is for 
consideration whether there may be a reasonable basis for holding that a 
service-connected condition was of such severity as to have a material 
influence in accelerating death. In this situation, however, it would 
not generally be reasonable to hold that a service-connected condition 
accelerated death unless such condition affected a vital organ and was 
of itself of a progressive or debilitating nature.

    Cross References: Reasonable doubt. See Sec. 3.102. Service 
connection for mental unsoundness in suicide. See Sec. 3.302.

[26 FR 1582, Feb. 24, 1961, as amended at 54 FR 34981, Aug. 23, 1989; 54 
FR 42803, Oct. 18, 1989]

Editorial Note: For Federal Register citations affecting Sec. 3.1, see the List of Sections Affected, which appears in the Finding Aids section of the printed volume and on GPO Access.




PART I -- DEPT OF VA       CFR





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