The Veteran's lipomas are currently rated at 10 percent, and the Board finds no evidence to support a higher rating. The issue of service connection for thyroid cancer is remanded due to insufficient medical opinion.
The deciding factor: A VA medical opinion was obtained but did not address the Veteran’s exposure to herbicide agents or contaminated water in service which may be relevant to his claim for service connection for thyroid cancer.
- Claimed conditions
- lipomas
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 10, 2019
- Citation
- 19102814
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,762 · Granted: 24% (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 19102814.
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 Board has decided to remand the case due to a duty-to-assist error in the August 2020 VA examination, and a new VA opinion is needed regarding whether lipomas are related to service.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his appeals for service connection of lipomas, scleroderma, and polymyositis.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to in-service environmental exposures, including Agent Orange and contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. The case is being returned for further examination and opinion regarding the relationship between the claimed conditions and these exposures.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for obstructive sleep apnea as secondary to service-connected PTSD. The claims for moles, lipomas, and a skin disability (white patches) caused by exposure to herbicide agents have been dismissed.
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