The Veteran's claim for service connection for lung disability, strep infection, right pyriform cancer, lymph node cancer, tonsil cancer, and tongue cancer is remanded due to the need for additional development.
The deciding factor: Additional medical opinions are required to determine if the Veteran's cancers are related to his in-service exposure to ionizing radiation.
- Claimed conditions
- lung disability, strep infection, right pyriform cancer, lymph node cancer, tonsil cancer, tongue cancer
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 24, 2018
- Citation
- 18144163
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 18144163.
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.
- Partly granted
The Board denied ratings in excess of 30 percent for bilateral foot disability, a rating in excess of 30 percent for left knee disability, and a rating in excess of 10 percent for lung disability. However, it granted an effective date of December 17, 2012, but no earlier, for the award service connection for limitation of extension of the left knee and left knee scar, and granted TDIU from January 17, 2013 to November 5, 2018.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 10 percent disability rating for the service-connected scar, status-post appendectomy, but denied all other claims for increased ratings and service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for a lung disability, specifically cough variant asthma, to obtain an adequate medical opinion regarding its etiology.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for lung disability, including COPD/emphysema and lung nodules, as the evidence did not support a causal relationship between the Veteran's in-service herbicide exposure and his current respiratory conditions.
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