The Board has granted service connection for the Veteran's gallbladder cancer and metastatic cholangiocarcinoma, finding that it is at least as likely as not related to exposure to Agent Orange during his military service.
The deciding factor: The Board found equipoise of evidence supporting a link between the Veteran's gallbladder cancer and his in-service exposure to Agent Orange.
- Claimed conditions
- gallbladder cancer, metastatic cholangiocarcinoma
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 19, 2019
- Citation
- 19131034
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 19131034.
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, gallbladder cancer, is not service-connected as there is no evidence linking the condition to his military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the VA did not fully develop the claim for all of the Veteran's possible participation in TERA, including unrecorded trips to countries neighboring Vietnam and service with Republic of Korea forces by Navy personnel involved in the Poseidon program. The case is being remanded to obtain this information.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, as metastatic cholangiocarcinoma was not shown to be related to his active service.
- Denied
The Board denied payment or reimbursement for non-VA medical care for cancer and hepatic steatosis as a Camp Lejeune family member due to the clinical finding that these conditions did not result from exposure at Camp Lejeune.
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