The Board has determined that the Veteran's death was caused by metastatic liver cancer, which is presumed to be service-connected due to his exposure to herbicides during service. The lung cancer, while not presumptively service-connected, may also have been related to his Agent Orange exposure.
The deciding factor: Service connection for cause of death established based on the presumption of herbicide exposure and the Veteran's history of lung cancer possibly linked to Agent Orange exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- Metastatic Liver Cancer, Metastatic Lung Cancer
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Gulf War
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 13, 2011
- Citation
- 1145398
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 1145398.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that neither his adrenal cortical cancer nor metastatic lung cancer were caused by or aggravated by service. The underlying primary adrenal cancer was not among those diseases presumed due to herbicide exposure.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's service-connected PTSD contributed substantially or materially to his cause of death, specifically by causing or permanently aggravating his metastatic lung cancer leading to fatal cardiac arrest. The evidence is at least in equipoise on this issue.
- Denied
The Board found that the Veteran's cause of death, metastatic lung cancer due to renal cell carcinoma with metastasis to bone and lung, was not caused or contributed substantially or materially by his military service. The evidence did not establish a medical relationship between the Veteran's cancer and his time in service.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected PTSD contributed to his death due to myocardial infarction with cardiac arrhythmia, metastatic lung cancer and bilateral pulmonary emphysema.
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