The veteran is seeking service connection for cancer of the esophagus and gastric cardia, which he claims was caused by exposure to Agent Orange during his military service. The VA has not provided proper notification under the VCAA and needs to provide additional evidence and consider the claim again.
The deciding factor: The VA failed to properly notify the veteran of the provisions of the VCAA and did not obtain all necessary evidence for consideration of the claim.
- Claimed conditions
- cancer of the esophagus, gastric cardia
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- May 26, 2004
- Citation
- 0413481
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,613 · Granted: 30% (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 0413481.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's esophagus cancer is granted as service connected due to exposure to Agent Orange during his Vietnam service. The cause of death, metastatic esophageal cancer, is also granted.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for cancer of the esophagus, finding that it is related to his gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), which was aggravated by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) medications used to treat a service-connected knee condition.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected diabetes mellitus is found to be etiologically related to his esophageal cancer, granting service connection for the esophageal cancer. The rating for left second and third toe amputation remains at 20 percent.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for esophageal, tongue, and pharyngeal cancer as well as skin cancer due to lack of evidence linking these conditions to military service or herbicide exposure.
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