The Board has remanded the case due to a need for a VA medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's tongue cancer is related to his exposure to herbicide agents during service.
The deciding factor: The examiner must address whether it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran’s tongue base cancer is etiologically related to his conceded exposure to herbicide agents during active service.
- Claimed conditions
- squamous cell carcinoma of the right base of the tongue
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 14, 2019
- Citation
- 19111973
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,592 · 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 19111973.
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.
- Partly granted
The veteran is granted a 30% rating for dysphagia but denied a higher rating for squamous cell carcinoma.
- Granted
The Veteran's petition to reopen the claim of service connection for headaches, secondary to his service-connected anxiety disorder NOS with features of PTSD, was granted. The appeal for service connection for asbestosis and petitions to reopen claims for tinnitus, squamous cell carcinoma of the right base of the tongue, and traumatic brain injury (TBI) were dismissed.
- Denied
The Board found that the Veteran died from metastatic squamous cell carcinoma to the lungs, which was not a disability of service origin and did not contribute substantially or materially to his cause of death. The claim for service connection for the cause of death is denied.
- Denied
The Veteran's squamous cell carcinoma of the right base of the tongue is not service connected due to lack of evidence showing it was caused or aggravated by his military service, including presumed exposure to herbicide agents. His residuals are also not service-connected as they do not meet the criteria for presumptive service connection.
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