The Board has granted service connection for both bladder cancer and pancreatic cancer, which are presumed to be caused by herbicide exposure during the Veteran's service in Vietnam.
The deciding factor: Medical opinions support a causal relationship between the Veteran's herbicide exposure and his development of bladder and pancreatic cancers.
- Claimed conditions
- pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Burn pits / airborne hazards
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 6, 2019
- Citation
- 19109579
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,548 · Granted: 31% (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 19109579.
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 Veteran's cause of death was not caused by a disability incurred or aggravated in service, and the Board denied the claim for service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has dismissed the appeal for accrued benefits and has remanded the issue of service connection for cause of death, as there was a duty to assist error related to obtaining a medical nexus opinion regarding in-service herbicide agent exposure.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's prostate and bladder cancer rating was reduced from 100% to 40%, effective December 1, 2025. The Veteran withdrew his appeal at a Board hearing held in April 2026.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities rendered him unable to secure and maintain substantially gainful employment prior to January 31, 2023.
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