The veteran's colon cancer is presumed to be service-connected due to exposure to ionizing radiation during military service. The Board has jurisdiction over the denial of service connection for heart disease and a psychiatric condition, but not over the denial of service connection for residuals of gallbladder removal.
The deciding factor: The veteran submitted a timely notice of disagreement and substantive appeal regarding his heart disease and psychiatric conditions, but did not submit one for the residuals of gallbladder removal within the required time frame.
- Claimed conditions
- Colon Cancer, Heart Disease, Psychiatric Condition
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Ionizing radiation
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 3, 2002
- Citation
- 0217427
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 0217427.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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The Veteran's claims for specially adapted housing and special home adaptation grants were denied as they did not meet the criteria for assistance in acquiring such benefits due to lack of qualifying service-connected disabilities.
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The Veteran's service-connected disabilities were not of such severity to prevent him from securing or following any substantially gainful occupation, and his TDIU claim was denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 due to insufficient evidence showing that VA's failure to diagnose the Veteran's colon cancer resulted in additional disability.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death was due to respiratory failure from lung cancer, which was metastatic from his primary colon cancer. The Board found that the Veteran's lung cancer and colon cancer were not related to service or any in-service exposure.
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