The Veteran's claim for service connection for colo-rectal cancer due to exposure to herbicide agents in Vietnam and exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina is being remanded as the VA examinations provided were not conducted by a proctologist or colorectal surgeon.
The deciding factor: The VA examinations did not provide opinions from qualified medical professionals regarding the Veteran's colo-rectal cancer due to his in-service exposures.
- Claimed conditions
- colo-rectal cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 2, 2018
- Citation
- 18123516
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 18123516.
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 finds that the Veteran's colo-rectal and left kidney cancers are not related to his service, including as due to herbicide exposure. The preponderance of evidence does not support a nexus between these conditions and his military service.
- Partly granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's colo-rectal cancer may be related to service, either due to herbicide exposure or contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. However, a definitive opinion is needed regarding the etiology of the condition.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for colo-rectal cancer and posterior subcapsular cataracts, finding that the veteran's claims were not well grounded due to lack of evidence linking these conditions to his inservice exposure to ionizing radiation.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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