The Board has remanded the case due to uncertainty regarding the Veteran's exposure to herbicides and the relationship between his cause of death, renal cancer, and military service.
The deciding factor: The evidence is unclear on whether the Veteran was exposed to herbicides during service, which affects the presumption of service connection for cause of death.
- Claimed conditions
- renal cancer
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 30, 2019
- Citation
- 19107033
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,642 · Granted: 19% (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 19107033.
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 Veteran's cause of death is remanded due to insufficient service connection for the cause of his death, kidney cancer. The DIC claim is also remanded as it is contingent upon a finding of service connection.
- Granted
The Veteran's death was determined to be caused by lung cancer, which is presumed to have developed due to service exposure to herbicide agents. The claim for DIC benefits has been granted with an effective date of December 19, 2014.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found that the VA medical opinion is inadequate and requires a new opinion to determine if the Veteran's renal cancer is related to service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided that the Veteran's renal cancer and surgical scar are not service-connected. The case is being remanded for further evaluation of the Veteran's hypertension.
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