The Veteran's squamous cell carcinoma of the left tonsil is service-connected based on presumed exposure to Agent Orange during his active duty in Vietnam.
The deciding factor: The evidence establishes that the Veteran's squamous cell cancer of the left tonsil is etiologically related to his presumed in-service herbicide exposure, as supported by medical opinions from private and VA oncologists.
- Claimed conditions
- left tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 10, 2009
- Citation
- 0904757
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,036 · Granted: 27% (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 0904757.
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 Veteran's service-connected squamous cell carcinoma of the penis, metastatic to inguinal lymph node, is granted a 20 percent rating from March 20, 2013, and a 40 percent rating from March 10, 2021. The Board also found that the Veteran's left tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma is not related to his service-connected penile cancer.
- Dismissed
The Veteran has withdrawn his appeal regarding the extension of a temporary total evaluation for left tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma, and thus there are no further allegations to consider.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for DM type II, a heart disability, and throat cancer. The evidence does not support a finding that these conditions are related to service or any other etiological factor.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for left tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma, finding that the evidence is in equipoise as to whether it is related to active duty service. The condition was not found to be related to exposure to herbicides or agent orange.
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