The Board granted service connection for the cause of the veteran's death, finding that metastatic melanoma was related to sun exposure during active duty.
The deciding factor: The VA physician concluded that the presence of carcinoma and actinic keratoses led to a conclusion that the veteran's melanoma was related to sun exposure both prior to and during service.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic melanoma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 14, 2008
- Citation
- 0815775
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,776 · Granted: 24% (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 0815775.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for metastatic melanoma, finding that it is related to in-service sun exposure.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death was not related to his military service, including any in-service dental work or ionizing radiation exposure. The Board denied the claim for service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a duty to assist error, specifically regarding the relationship between the Veteran's atherosclerotic cerebrovascular accident and his in-service exposure to herbicide agents. The examiner is asked to provide an opinion on whether this condition qualifies as ischemic heart disease for purposes of presumptive service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's death was attributed to metastatic melanoma, which the Board finds meets the first requirement of service connection. However, due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error, the Board must now obtain medical opinions regarding the nature and etiology of both conditions.
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