Service connection is granted for prostate cancer and coronary artery disease, both presumed to be related to in-service exposure to herbicide agents. Service connection is remanded for CML due to lack of evidence supporting presumptive service connection.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's prostate cancer and coronary artery disease are presumed to be related to his in-service exposure to herbicide agents. The Board found the Veteran was exposed to herbicide agents during his service aboard USS Kitty Hawk, which is considered service in Vietnam for purposes of presumptive service connection. CML was not deemed a presumptively related condition but may still have been caused by in-service exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- prostate cancer, coronary artery disease, chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML)
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Gulf War
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 8, 2019
- Citation
- 19117096
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,676 · Granted: 24% (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 19117096.
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 Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for diabetes mellitus, prostate cancer, visual impairment, hypertension, and erectile dysfunction due to lack of exposure to herbicide agents during service. The Veteran's claims were not granted.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for prostate cancer, bone cancer, and lymph node cancer has been granted. The prostate cancer is presumed due to herbicide agent exposure during service at RTAFB Takhli. Bone cancer is secondary to the service-connected prostate cancer. Lymph node cancer is also considered secondary to prostate cancer.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an increased rating for coronary artery disease is being remanded due to the inadequacy of a previous VA examination.
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