The Board found that the veteran's thyroid cancer is related to his exposure to herbicides in Vietnam, and granted service connection for this condition.
The deciding factor: Medical opinions were inconclusive regarding a direct link between herbicide exposure and thyroid cancer development, but suggested such a relationship. The Board resolved doubt in favor of the veteran based on presumed exposure during service.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic papillary carcinoma of the thyroid
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 25, 2004
- Citation
- 0407824
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,555 · Granted: 19% (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 0407824.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board allowed the benefit or issue identified in this decision. Review the original order: other issues in the same appeal may have a different outcome, and this decision does not predict another claim.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- 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.
- Granted
The Veteran's tinnitus is presumed to have been incurred in service due to noise exposure during his time in Vietnam.
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