The Board found that the Veteran's skin cancer, including malignant melanomas and basal cell carcinomas, was not incurred in or aggravated by active service and could not be presumed to have been incurred therein. The preponderance of evidence does not support a link between the Veteran's exposure to ionizing radiation during service and his current skin cancer.
The deciding factor: The medical opinions were against a nexus between the Veteran's in-service radiation exposure and his current skin cancer, finding that the probability was only 3 to 6 percent. The Board also noted that the Veteran's lay opinion as to the cause of his cancer cannot be accepted as competent medical evidence.
- Claimed conditions
- Skin Cancer, Malignant Melanoma, Basal Cell Carcinoma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 15, 2010
- Citation
- 1009767
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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 1009767.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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- Granted
The Veteran's malignant melanoma is granted service connection due to presumed exposure to herbicides during his active duty service.
- Granted
The Veteran's malignant melanoma and related conditions have been granted increased ratings, effective dates for earlier effective dates, and SMC housebound status from January 18, 2024, to August 31, 2024.,Service connection has also been established for a right eye condition as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected malignant melanoma.
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