The veteran's widow seeks service connection for various conditions, including his cause of death and diabetes mellitus, colon cancer, hypertension, and metastatic cancer. The appeal is being remanded to determine if the veteran served in Vietnam or had other qualifying service that would allow for presumptive service connection due to herbicide exposure.
The deciding factor: The Board notes that the veteran did not serve in Vietnam but may have had visitation or duty there, which could potentially qualify him for presumptive service connection. The appeal is being remanded to gather more information on this issue and possibly other relevant records.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic colon cancer, diabetes mellitus, colon cancer, hypertension, terminal metastatic cancer, spinal disorder, degenerative arthritis of the right knee
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 19, 2006
- Citation
- 0621048
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,642 · Granted: 19% (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 0621048.
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 the claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection are being remanded due to the need for additional development, including VA examinations.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for additional development due to conflicting opinions regarding service connection for peripheral neuropathy, hypertension, and skin disabilities related to herbicide exposure.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection for hypertension and increased rating for anxiety disorder have been denied. The Board found that there is no evidence of a current disability meeting the criteria for hypertension, and the Veteran's anxiety disorder does not meet the criteria for a higher rating.
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