The Veteran's throat cancer is not related to his active duty service or asbestos exposure, and the preponderance of evidence does not support a finding that it was incurred in service.
The deciding factor: VA examiners found no medical literature linking the Veteran's type of cancer to asbestos exposure and concluded that there was no causal relationship between the throat cancer and his active duty service.
- Claimed conditions
- throat cancer, metastatic squamous cell carcinoma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 7, 2014
- Citation
- 1400525
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 1400525.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the appellant's request for direct payment of attorney fees based on past-due benefits awarded in an April 2025 rating decision, as the decision was not a result of a valid appeal and did not award any past-due benefits.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection for lung cancer is denied. The claim for throat cancer is granted, and the Veteran is awarded a TDIU rating prior to August 10, 2022.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for tonsillar cancer (claimed as throat and respiratory cancer) due to a lack of evidence showing that his condition began during active service or is related to an in-service injury or disease, including presumed exposure to herbicide agents and contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for throat cancer service connection was dismissed due to their death during the appeal process.
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