The veteran's cancer of the right tonsil region is causally related to his active duty service, including presumed exposure to Agent Orange during his time in Vietnam.
The deciding factor: The evidence supports a causal relationship between the veteran's cancer and his military service, specifically his presumed exposure to Agent Orange.
- Claimed conditions
- cancer of the right tonsil region
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- January 14, 2009
- Citation
- 0901606
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,500 · Granted: 17% (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 0901606.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for further development, including obtaining an opinion from a VA medical specialist regarding the etiology of the veteran's cancer of the right tonsil region and obtaining tissue samples associated with a biopsy.
- Denied
The Board found that cancer of the right tonsil region was not incurred in or aggravated by service, including exposure to herbicides. The veteran's claim for service connection based on Agent Orange exposure was denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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