The Board denied service connection for the cause of the veteran's death, finding that his lung cancer was not related to his military service or exposure to herbicides.
The deciding factor: There is no evidence linking the veteran's small cell lung carcinoma to any incidents in service, including exposure to Agent Orange.
- Claimed conditions
- small cell lung carcinoma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- April 10, 2008
- Citation
- 0811848
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,293 · Granted: 17% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0811848.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the claim for payment or reimbursement of unauthorized oncology medical treatment provided from January 2011 to April 2011 by Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton, Washington as it was not authorized by VA and was not emergent.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's cause of death was determined to be due to small cell lung cancer, which is presumed service-connected based on exposure to herbicides during his Vietnam service.
- Whole decision: Partly granted
The Board found it plausible that the Veteran was exposed to asbestos in service, but concluded that his lung cancer was not related to this exposure. The VA examiner's opinion is needed to clarify whether the lung cancer was related to any possible in-service asbestos exposure.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case for additional development, including obtaining a medical opinion on whether the veteran's asbestos exposure during service was a contributory cause of his lung cancer and subsequent death.
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