The Veteran's widow is granted the right to reopen her claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death. The case is remanded due to insufficient evidence regarding the etiology of the Veteran's bladder cancer.
The deciding factor: Insufficient supporting rationale was provided in the private medical opinions, and a VA opinion is needed to determine causation between Agent Orange exposure and the Veteran's bladder cancer.
- Claimed conditions
- bladder cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 12, 2019
- Citation
- 19145448
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.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for bladder cancer, finding it to be related to the Veteran's in-service herbicide exposure.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date of December 12, 2023, for a 50 percent evaluation of bipolar disorder and remanded the other issues for further development.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, bladder cancer, due to in-service exposure to ionizing radiation.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection of bladder cancer to obtain an adequate VA TERA opinion and provide a clarifying opinion on the relationship between exposure to fuel or CARC and bladder cancer.
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