The Board has granted service connection for the cause of the veteran's death, attributing it to his presumed exposure to Agent Orange during service. The issue of entitlement to dependents' educational assistance benefits is also addressed and remanded due to lack of clarity in the claim.
The deciding factor: Service connection was established based on presumptive exposure to Agent Orange, which is considered a contributing cause of death.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic thyroid cancer, paraplegia
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 21, 2006
- Citation
- 0604834
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,242 · Granted: 26% (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 0604834.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted the appeal for severance of DIC benefits and discontinuance of DEA benefits, finding that there was not clear and unmistakable error in the original grant of these benefits.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a new medical opinion to address the Veteran's metastatic thyroid cancer and its potential link to Agent Orange exposure during his service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for neurogenic bowel, bladder, and paraplegia as secondary to her service-connected lumbar strain. The AOJ must obtain additional opinions addressing whether these conditions are aggravated by the service-connected condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the Veteran's cause of death, including gram negative bacteremia, paraplegia, tracheostomy or intracerebral hemorrhage is related to his service-connected migraine headaches condition. The matter is REMANDED for further action.
Free starter guide for your own claim
Reading this because you were denied or under-rated? Get the plain-English next steps — your appeal options, the deadline that protects you, and how appeals like yours turn out. One email, no spam.
We will only use this to send the guide. No spam, unsubscribe any time. We never sell your information.
We are not the VA. Veterans’ Rights is an independent resource built for veterans. We are not the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, not part of the government, and not endorsed by any government agency.
This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.