The Board denied the appellant's claim of entitlement to service connection for the cause of her husband's death, finding that there was no evidence linking his unspecified metastatic carcinoma to his military service or any presumptive conditions related to Agent Orange exposure.
The deciding factor: The veteran died from an unspecified metastatic carcinoma which has not been shown to be one of the presumptive diseases recognized in VA regulations. There is no objective medical nexus opinion linking the cancer to service, and there was no evidence of a pre-existing condition aggravated by service or contributing to death.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic carcinoma with unknown primary site
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- January 21, 2004
- Citation
- 0402068
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 673 · Granted: 27% (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 0402068.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
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