The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for the cause of his death due to lack of evidence linking it to service or a service-connected disability. The claim for service-connected burial benefits was also denied as there were no service-connected disabilities.
The deciding factor: The most probative evidence did not link the Veteran’s death to service or a service-connected disability, and thus service connection could not be established.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 1, 2019
- Citation
- 19159996
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,020 · Granted: 19% (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 19159996.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
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 insufficient medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's throat cancer, which was caused by asbestos exposure in service, led to his fatal metastatic cancer. The VA is instructed to obtain a new VA opinion addressing these theories.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal was dismissed due to his death prior to a decision being made.
- Granted
The Veteran's death was caused by metastatic cancer and transitional cell cancer of the bladder, which are presumed to be due to exposure to herbicide agents during his service in Guam. The Board granted service connection for the cause of death based on this presumption.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient evidence regarding the Veteran's cause of death and his exposure claims. The VA will need to verify the Veteran's service in Vietnam, assess asbestos exposure, and provide a medical opinion on whether any of these exposures contributed to the Veteran's death.
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