The Board is remanding the case to obtain additional medical records and determine if there is new and material evidence to reopen the claim of service connection for the cause of the veteran's death. The Board will also review the nature and etiology of the cause of the veteran's death, including whether it was related to his military service.
The deciding factor: The case requires additional development as the appellant seeks to reopen a previously denied claim of service connection for the cause of her husband's death due to exposure to herbicides in Vietnam. The Board is remanding the case to obtain medical records and determine if there is new and material evidence to support this claim.
- Claimed conditions
- carcinomatosis, possible primary tumor of the pancreas
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 6, 2005
- Citation
- 0500290
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 684 · Granted: 25% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted 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. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0500290.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's cause of death is determined to be related to service-connected prostate cancer, which was caused by metastasis and resulted in carcinomatosis. The Board finds that the evidence supports granting service connection for the Veteran's cause of death.
- Granted
The Veteran's death was caused by carcinomatosis, which is presumed to be related to Agent Orange exposure during service. The claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death has been granted.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was not caused by his military service or any of his service-connected conditions, and there is no evidence linking the cause of death to exposure to herbicide agents.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death is denied as there is no evidence to support a service connection for the condition that led to his death, and he did not meet the criteria for DIC under 38 U.S.C. § 1318.
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