The Board is remanding the case to attempt to obtain VA medical records from the VAMC in Durham, where the appellant believes the relevant records are archived. The Veteran's lung cancer may have predated his esophageal cancer diagnosis.
The deciding factor: The Board cannot establish presumptive service connection for metastatic lung cancer due to a potential conflict with esophageal cancer that developed as a result of metastasis from another cancer not associated with herbicide exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic lung cancer, esophageal cancer
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Gulf War
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 23, 2019
- Citation
- 19105533
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,828 · Granted: 32% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 19105533.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for the cause of death due to esophageal cancer, which is presumed to be related to exposure to herbicide agents during service in Vietnam.
- Granted
The Veteran's cause of death, metastatic lung cancer, was found to be related to service and caused or contributed substantially to the Veteran's death. The Board granted entitlement to service connection for the Veteran's cause of death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the Veteran's prostate disability. The claims for esophageal cancer and Barrett's esophagus remain denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the AOJ committed pre-decisional duty to notify and duty to assist errors in denying the DIC claim for the cause of the Veteran's death. The claim must be remanded to allow the AOJ to make a finding regarding whether the Appellant is considered the surviving spouse, as this is a threshold requirement for DIC benefits.
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