The Board denied service connection for chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and respiratory cancer, both as being due to exposure to herbicides.
The deciding factor: There is no competent medical evidence linking the veteran's current diagnoses of COPD and respiratory cancer to his military service or presumed herbicide exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), respiratory cancer
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Gulf War
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 16, 2006
- Citation
- 0617648
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 0617648.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for higher ratings for tinnitus, liver disorder (MASLD), and COPD are remanded due to incomplete or inadequate evidence. The claim for service connection is also remanded.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for tonsillar cancer (claimed as throat and respiratory cancer) due to a lack of evidence showing that his condition began during active service or is related to an in-service injury or disease, including presumed exposure to herbicide agents and contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings for asthma, eczematoid dermatitis, and allergic rhinitis are being remanded due to incomplete examination reports and the need for new VA examinations.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has granted service connection for metastatic lung cancer and pleural effusion as secondary to service-connected metastatic lung cancer. Service connection is being remanded for COPD, chronic sinusitis, and allergic rhinitis due to the need for additional development.
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