The Board denied the appellant's claim for service connection for the cause of her husband's death, finding that his fatal cancer was not related to his military service and that his service-connected arteriosclerotic heart disease did not contribute substantially or materially to his death.
The deciding factor: The VA medical opinion concluded that the veteran's service-connected disability (arteriosclerotic heart disease) did not cause or contribute substantially or material to his death from metastatic lung cancer.
- Claimed conditions
- throat cancer, esophageal cancer, metastatic lung cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 3, 2002
- Citation
- 0211135
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0211135.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for the Veteran's cause of death to correct predecisional duty to assist errors, including obtaining additional records and a medical nexus opinion.
- Granted
The Veteran's esophageal cancer is granted service connection due to herbicide exposure during his service in the Republic of Vietnam.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for gastrointestinal cancer other than esophageal cancer and stomach cancer, brain cancer, and prostate cancer. The issues of entitlement to service connection for esophageal cancer, metastatic esophageal cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer, and liver cancer were remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the Veteran's claim for service connection for throat cancer to obtain additional medical evidence regarding the relationship between the Veteran's service, including exposure to herbicide agents, and his development of throat cancer.
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