Mattern v. West

James Mattern was a World War II veteran who served in the Pacific theater in Southeast Asia. During his service, Mattern at times lived and worked among the local populations and ate locally sourced and prepared food. In 1992, Mattern was diagnosed with a type of liver cancer that was rare in the United States and Europe. Travel to Southeast Asia was considered to be a major risk factor for developing the disease, which was significantly more common in that region and other similar climates, with epidemiological studies supporting a connection between the disease and a type of fungus that occurred in the region. Mattern had only ever traveled to Southeast Asia during his service. After Mattern died from the disease in 1993, his wife, Dolores Mattern (plaintiff) filed a claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) (defendant) for survivors’ benefits. The VA denied her claim, holding that Mattern’s death was not service connected. Dolores appealed to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (the board). She presented evidence from all of Mattern’s private physicians, who asserted that his disease was linked to his service in Southeast Asia, as well as medical and epidemiological evidence that showed the connection between the disease and the environment in that region. The board upheld the VA’s denial of Dolores’s claim, finding that her claim was not well grounded because it failed to present evidence of a nexus between Mattern’s death and his service. Dolores appealed.