The Veteran's skin cancer was not incurred in service and is denied as the evidence does not support a finding of direct service connection. The claim for service connection is also denied due to lack of probative value of lay statements regarding causation.
The deciding factor: The medical evidence does not support a finding of direct service connection, and the lay statements are considered insufficient to establish etiology.
- Claimed conditions
- Skin cancer, Non-melanoma skin cancer, Squamous cell carcinoma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 29, 2019
- Citation
- 19141323
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,162 · Granted: 21% (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 19141323.
What this means for you
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to errors in pre-decisional duty to assist and other statutory and regulatory duties. The appellant is not provided with proper notice for a cause of death claim, and further development is needed regarding herbicide agent exposure and radiation exposure during service.
- Granted
The Veteran's skin cancer and actinic keratoses are found to be related to his military service, specifically sun exposure as a lifeguard. The Board has granted the claim for service connection.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for lymphoma and skin cancer, finding that both conditions are related to the Veteran's military service due to exposure to herbicide agents and sunlight.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for a higher rating for his skin cancer and scar condition was denied as the evidence did not show that the disability more nearly approximated the criteria for a higher rating under any other diagnostic code.
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