The Board denied service connection for the cause of the veteran's death, as well as DIC benefits under 38 U.S.C.A. § 1151 and burial benefits due to lack of evidence linking the veteran's death to his military service or VA treatment.
The deciding factor: The Board found that there was no medical evidence showing a link between the veteran's death from metastatic esophageal carcinoma and his military service or any VA treatment, thus denying all claims.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic carcinoma of the esophagus
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 21, 2006
- Citation
- 0608121
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,699 · Granted: 17% (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 0608121.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
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 the claims for service connection and DIC benefits due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the cause of death.
- Denied
The Veteran died from metastatic carcinoma of the esophagus, which was not service-connected. The Board found that there is no evidence linking the esophageal cancer to his military service or exposure to herbicides.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's death was caused by esophageal cancer, which the VA does not consider to be related to his presumed in-service herbicide exposure. The case is being remanded for further development.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for additional development, including obtaining service treatment records and a VA medical opinion regarding the cause of the Veteran's death.
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