The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the relationship between the Veteran's in-service herbicide exposure and his death from metastatic esophageal cancer. The appellant contends that the cause of death is related to Agent Orange exposure, but the VA needs to provide a comprehensive opinion addressing this theory.
The deciding factor: The Board requires an updated medical opinion to address the appellant’s theory of entitlement based on in-service herbicide exposure and its potential connection to esophageal cancer.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic esophageal cancer, primary lymphoma, primary respiratory cancer
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 27, 2018
- Citation
- 18139487
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 18139487.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's death was caused by cardiorespiratory arrest and metastatic esophageal cancer. The appellant is recognized as the surviving spouse, but service connection for cause of death remains pending due to insufficient information on in-service exposure to herbicide agents.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for gastrointestinal cancer other than esophageal cancer and stomach cancer, brain cancer, and prostate cancer. The issues of entitlement to service connection for esophageal cancer, metastatic esophageal cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer, and liver cancer were remanded.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death and for metastatic esophageal cancer, liver cancer, and lymph node cancer as they were not related to the Veteran's service or presumed exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death, metastatic esophageal cancer, was not caused by his exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. The Board found the evidence did not support service connection for the cause of death.
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