The Veteran's death was caused by metastatic prostate cancer, but the Board is unable to determine if this condition was related to his service exposure to herbicides. The appeal will be remanded for further investigation and verification of the Veteran's alleged exposures.
The deciding factor: The Board cannot make a determination on the cause of death without verifying the Veteran's exposure to herbicides, as required by M21-1 MR procedures.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic prostate cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 17, 2018
- Citation
- 18118630
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 18118630.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
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 Servicemember's cause of death, including ALS, myasthenia gravis, and metastatic prostate cancer, as they were not incurred during or related to his military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims of entitlement to dependency and indemnity compensation for service connection for metastatic prostate cancer, as well as the claim for service connection for cause of death due to a duty to assist error. The remand is necessary because the VA examiner did not address whether the Veteran's TCE exposure during service was related to his prostate cancer.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death due to exposure to herbicide agents in Vietnam, including Agent Orange. The decision is based on the presumption that the Veteran was exposed during his service.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's metastatic prostate cancer, which contributed to his death, was related to his in-service toxic exposures at Camp Lejeune.
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