The Board found that the preponderance of evidence was against the veteran's claim for service connection for skin cancer, including based upon exposure to ionizing radiation.
The deciding factor: The dose estimate provided did not support a reasonable possibility that the veteran's skin cancers were caused by his exposure to ionizing radiation during service.
- Claimed conditions
- skin cancer, squamous cell carcinoma of the scalp, basal cell carcinoma near the left ear lobe, basal cell carcinoma near the right ear lobe
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 2, 2009
- Citation
- 0900018
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.
- Partly granted
The appeal for service connection for skin cancer was dismissed due to untimeliness, while the claim for squamous cell carcinoma was granted.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for squamous cell carcinoma of the scalp, chronic kidney disease, and liver disease, subject to regulations governing payment of monetary benefits.
- Dismissed
The appeal was dismissed due to the Veteran's death during the pendency of the claims.
- Partly granted
Service connection for prostate cancer on an accrued basis was granted based on the benefit-of-the-doubt doctrine, finding competent and credible evidence at least approximately balanced between service-connected prostatitis and prostate cancer. Service connection was denied for stomach cancer, colon cancer, skin cancer, the Veteran's cause of death, and dependency indemnity compensation benefits.
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