The Board finds that the Veteran's throat cancer is related to his in-service exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, and grants service connection for this condition.
The deciding factor: The medical evidence is in relative equipoise as to whether the Veteran's likely in-service exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune caused his throat cancer. The Board resolves all reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran.
- Claimed conditions
- throat cancer
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Camp Lejeune water
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 8, 2019
- Citation
- 19101328
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,017 · Granted: 36% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 19101328.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the appellant's request for direct payment of attorney fees based on past-due benefits awarded in an April 2025 rating decision, as the decision was not a result of a valid appeal and did not award any past-due benefits.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection for lung cancer is denied. The claim for throat cancer is granted, and the Veteran is awarded a TDIU rating prior to August 10, 2022.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for tonsillar cancer (claimed as throat and respiratory cancer) due to a lack of evidence showing that his condition began during active service or is related to an in-service injury or disease, including presumed exposure to herbicide agents and contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for throat cancer service connection was dismissed due to their death during the appeal process.
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