The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of death, finding that renal cell carcinoma was not incurred in or aggravated by active service and did not have a nexus to Agent Orange exposure. The Board also found that no service-connected disability contributed substantially or materially to the veteran's death.
The deciding factor: The medical evidence did not establish a link between the veteran’s renal cell carcinoma, which caused his death, and either his military service or Agent Orange exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- Renal cell carcinoma, Pulmonary edema
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 7, 2005
- Citation
- 0502920
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 999 · Granted: 31% (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 0502920.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that new and material evidence has been received to reopen the claim of service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death. The case is remanded for a VA medical opinion regarding the etiology of the Veteran's fatal renal cancer, including whether it was caused by exposure to Agent Orange or secondary to his service-connected prostate cancer.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death was due to acute respiratory failure, with pulmonary edema, acute renal failure, renal cell cancer, and coronary artery disease as contributing causes. The VA examiner found that the asbestos exposure did not contribute to these conditions.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of death due to metastatic renal cell carcinoma, finding no evidence linking it to in-service toxic exposures.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, related to his conceded exposure to herbicide agents during active service.
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