The Veteran's cause of death, metastatic renal cell cancer, is found to be due to exposure to herbicides during service. Service connection for the cause of death is granted.
The deciding factor: The medical opinions provided by the Veteran's private physician and a VA specialist indicate a possible link between Agent Orange exposure and kidney cancer in Vietnam Veterans, which meets the standard required for service connection on a presumptive basis.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic renal cell cancer
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 9, 2016
- Citation
- 1635334
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 1635334.
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 Board has determined that the Veteran's cause of death, metastatic renal cell cancer and related conditions, is service-connected due to exposure to herbicide agents during his military service in Vietnam.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has granted service connection for metastatic renal cell cancer due to presumed exposure to herbicide agents, including Agent Orange. The hypertension issue is remanded as there is no opinion on its etiology.
- Granted
The Veteran's death was due to metastatic renal cell cancer and hemorrhagic stroke. The appellant argued that her husband's Parkinson's disease contributed to his fall, which led to the stroke and ultimately his death. The medical evidence supports this claim, as a private physician opined that Parkinson's disease was a contributing factor to the Veteran's death.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the evidence is at least in equipoise and therefore, service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death due to exposure to contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune is granted.
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