The Board is remanding the case for further development due to a lack of medical evidence regarding the cause of death.
The deciding factor: Medical examination is needed to determine if the finding in September 1975 represented the precursor to squamous cell carcinoma in 1992.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 20, 2006
- Citation
- 0639647
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 734 · Granted: 9% (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 0639647.
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 Veteran's claims for service connection for tonsillar cancer and metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck are remanded due to a duty to assist error. The Board finds that VA failed to provide a VA examination prior to the May 2020 rating decision on appeal.
- Granted
Service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death was granted due to herbicide agent exposure and service-connected PTSD contributing substantially or materially to the cause of death.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for the Veteran's metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, including laryngeal cancer, and his total laryngectomy. The Board found that there was no link between these conditions and in-service asbestos exposure.
- Granted
The Veteran's metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck is presumed to be caused by his in-service exposure to burn pits, granted service connection under the PACT Act.
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