The Board has ordered additional VA records to be obtained and a medical opinion regarding the classification of the veteran's cancer as a respiratory cancer. The case is being remanded for these actions.
The deciding factor: Additional evidence is needed to determine if the veteran's cancer can be classified as a respiratory cancer, which may affect his entitlement to service connection due to exposure to herbicide agents during active service.
- Claimed conditions
- cancer of the head and neck
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 2, 2006
- Citation
- 0602982
Veterans Law Judge
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 0602982.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded several secondary service connection claims for the Veteran's head and neck cancer, including loss of taste, swallowing difficulty, a left neck scar, post-operative nerve involvement of the neck and throat (CN IX and XII), and post-operative nerve involvement of the jaw (CN VII). The remand is due to additional development needed regarding whether the Veteran acquired HPV in service or if his in-service throat infections rendered him more susceptible to contracting HPV.
- Granted
The Veteran's claims for service connection for gastric cancer, cancer of the head and neck, and an increased rating for a right shoulder disability have been granted. The Veteran also received a 10 percent disability rating for his right shoulder disability.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was not caused by any service-connected disability, and the Board denied entitlement to service connection for cause of death due to lack of evidence linking his conditions to service.
- Denied
The Veteran died in a private medical facility and the cause of death was listed as cancer of the head and neck, due to metastatic liver disease. The Veteran did not have any service-connected conditions at the time of his death, nor did he have an active pending claim for VA compensation or nonservice-connected pension benefits. Therefore, burial benefits cannot be paid.
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