The Board has determined that the veteran's cancer of the pancreas, which caused his death, was present in service or within one year after service. Therefore, the claim for service connection is granted.
The deciding factor: The expert medical opinion supported by the evidence established that the veteran had back pain as an early manifestation of pancreatic cancer, and this form of cancer is usually diagnosed at a later stage with no symptoms until it is advanced.
- Claimed conditions
- cancer of the pancreas
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 8, 2006
- Citation
- 0613267
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,677 · 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 0613267.
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 Veteran's cancer of the pancreas was granted service connection.,The Veteran's tinnitus is currently rated at 10 percent and no higher rating is warranted.,The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss does not meet criteria for a compensable rating.,Service connection for residuals of left foot surgery (left foot disability) is remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded four claims: service connection for type 2 diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, cancer of the pancreas and polyneuropathy of the right and left lower extremity. The RO must issue a Statement of the Case (SOC) addressing these claims.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death, cancer of the pancreas, was not related to his service and therefore denied service connection for the cause of death. The appellant is also denied burial benefits as there were no qualifying circumstances.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for service connection for gallbladder, small intestine, and spleen cancers are denied as there is no current diagnosis of these conditions.,The Veteran's claim for service connection for pancreas cancer is remanded due to the need for further development regarding exposure to Agent Orange.
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