The Board found that the veteran's malignant melanoma of the chest wall was not incurred in or aggravated by service, nor may it be presumed to have been incurred therein. The evidence did not demonstrate that the veteran had cancer of the breast and his claim for service connection based on exposure to ionizing radiation could not be granted.
The deciding factor: The medical evidence did not show a diagnosis of breast cancer in 1955, nor was there any evidence linking the veteran's malignant melanoma to exposure to ionizing radiation during service.
- Claimed conditions
- malignant melanoma of the chest wall
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 15, 2003
- Citation
- 0300868
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 493 · Granted: 28% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0300868.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for malignant melanoma of the chest wall, sometimes claimed as breast cancer due to exposure to ionizing radiation in service. The claim for an increased rating for bilateral external otitis and hearing loss secondary to service-connected bilateral external otitis was also denied.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for diabetes mellitus type II with erectile dysfunction was denied as the evidence did not show that he had been diagnosed and manifested to at least a 10 percent disability rating on or prior to May 8, 2001.
- Granted
Service connection for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is granted. The appeal as to the issue of entitlement to service connection for erectile dysfunction is dismissed.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for additional development due to conflicting opinions regarding service connection for peripheral neuropathy, hypertension, and skin disabilities related to herbicide exposure.
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