The Veteran's cause of death was not service-connected as his cancer did not manifest during or due to military service. The claim for DIC under 38 U.S.C. § 1318 also failed.
The deciding factor: There is no evidence linking the Veteran’s fatal cancer to his military service, including any herbicide exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic colorectal cancer
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 22, 2019
- Citation
- 19104962
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,421 · Granted: 29% (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 19104962.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for metastatic colorectal cancer and lung cancer due to deficiencies in the AOJ's duty-to-assist, including failure to obtain complete service treatment records and an adequate VA medical opinion.
- Dismissed
The appeal was dismissed due to the Veteran's death before a Board decision could be made.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for metastatic colorectal cancer, finding that the Veteran's current condition is related to his exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune during his active duty service.
- Granted
The Veteran's lung cancer is granted as secondary to his service-connected metastatic colorectal cancer, which resulted from presumed Agent Orange exposure.
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