The Board has determined that the veteran's death was not caused or contributed to by any service-connected disability, including his presumed Agent Orange exposure and diabetes mellitus.
The deciding factor: The VA physician concluded that neither the veteran's Agent Orange exposure nor his diabetes mellitus contributed to his death from metastatic colon carcinoma with liver metastases.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic colon carcinoma with liver metastases, hepatic encephalopathy
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 18, 2008
- Citation
- 0809130
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 0809130.
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.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for hepatitis C and its secondary effects on other conditions, including cirrhosis of the liver, diabetes mellitus type II, esophageal varices, hepatic encephalopathy, and splenomegaly.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was not caused by a service-connected disability, and therefore his surviving spouse is denied entitlement to service connection for the cause of his death.
- Denied
The Veteran's spouse is denied eligibility for a VA home loan guaranty benefit due to the absence of service-connected disabilities and the death not being caused by a service-connected condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, for purposes of entitlement to dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC), as further development is necessary.
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