The Veteran's cause of death, colon cancer, was not shown to be related to service or herbicide exposure. The Board denied the claim as there is no evidence that the Veteran's colon cancer was caused by his military service.
The deciding factor: There is no competent medical evidence linking the Veteran’s colon cancer to his military service or herbicide exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- Colon cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 27, 2018
- Citation
- 18160767
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 18160767.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for a lung disability and a bilateral foot disability based on new evidence, but denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss, hypertension, and colon cancer.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for colon cancer and individual unemployability (TDIU) due to a duty to assist error, requiring further development of evidence related to toxic exposure activities.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death to ensure all reasonably raised theories of entitlement are developed, specifically regarding a direct service connection theory based on complaints in the Veteran's service treatment records.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for brain tumor, prostate cancer, colon cancer, and bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome due to inadequate medical opinions regarding toxic exposure.
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