The Veteran's gastric adenocarcinoma, which caused his death, is not service-connected due to lack of evidence linking it to service or Agent Orange exposure.
The deciding factor: Gastric carcinoma was not included on the list of diseases associated with Agent Orange exposure and there is no medical opinion relating the Veteran’s Gastric carcinoma directly either to service or a result of Agent Orange exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- gastric adenocarcinoma
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- April 30, 2019
- Citation
- 19133493
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 3,319 · Granted: 25% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 19133493.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied service connection for gastric adenocarcinoma, finding that the evidence does not support a link between the Veteran's condition and his military service, including herbicide exposure.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Board has granted service connection for gastric adenocarcinoma, finding that the Veteran's exposure to herbicide Agent Orange during service in Vietnam and contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune likely caused his current condition. The decision is based on a July 2018 private medical opinion from a board-certified cancer surgeon.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Board has granted service connection for gastric adenocarcinoma, finding that the Veteran's exposure to Agent Orange during service likely caused his cancer. The decision is based on a private medical opinion and resolves all reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's cause of death, gastric adenocarcinoma, is related to his active-duty service and grants entitlement to service connection for cause of death.
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