The veteran's cause of death was adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus. The Board denied service connection for the cause of death and found that the veteran did not have a total disability deemed to be permanent in nature resulting from a service-connected disability at the time of his death.
The deciding factor: The VA physician's opinion was that it was unlikely that the veteran's esophageal carcinoma was related to his military service and exposure to Agent Orange, as there was no scientific or epidemiologic evidence supporting such a link.
- Claimed conditions
- adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 3, 2002
- Citation
- 0213586
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 0213586.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board denied earlier effective dates for the veteran's service-connected conditions, except for diabetes mellitus type II which was granted an effective date of February 25, 2019.
- Remanded (sent back)
Service connection for adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus is granted under the PACT Act, but direct service connection remains to be determined.
- Denied
The veteran died of adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus. Since he was not service-connected for any disability at the time of his death, dependency and indemnity compensation under 38 U.S.C.A. § 1318 is denied.
- Denied
The veteran died of adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus. Since he was not rated totally disabled at the time of his death and did not have a total-disability rating during the ten years preceding his death, dependency and indemnity compensation is denied.
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