The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for coronary artery disease and residuals of lung cancer due to insufficient evidence regarding his exposure to herbicides during service. The Veteran must provide additional information about his alleged exposure in Vietnam.
The deciding factor: The Board requires further investigation into USS Somers' operations logs from October 1970 to March 1971 to determine if the ship was moored in Da Nang for repairs, which would support a presumptive service connection based on herbicide exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- coronary artery disease (CAD), residuals of lung cancer
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 17, 2019
- Citation
- 19130215
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,893 · 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 19130215.
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 claims for an earlier effective date for service connection and TDIU are remanded due to the need for additional medical opinions regarding the etiology of his coronary artery disease.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for prostate cancer, coronary artery disease (CAD), diabetes mellitus type II (DM II), hypertension, and erectile dysfunction as secondary to service-connected DM II. The Veteran's exposure to Agent Orange during active service is presumed.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's service connection claims for coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis, peripheral vascular disease, varicose veins, and irritable bowel syndrome are remanded due to the need for additional medical opinions regarding secondary service connection.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the Veteran's appeal for earlier effective dates for hypertension and coronary artery disease (CAD) as both issues were previously decided by the Board on a presumptive basis under the PACT Act, which precludes an earlier effective date.
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