The Board has determined that the evidence is in equipoise as to whether the Veteran's death was caused by his service-connected asbestos exposure and sun exposure, granting service connection for the cause of death.
The deciding factor: The medical opinions provided by Dr. J.E. and a medical abstract submitted by the Appellant support the conclusion that the Veteran's death was due to in-service asbestos exposure and sun exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- Mantle cell lymphoma, Melanoma, Renal cell carcinoma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 14, 2019
- Citation
- 19162724
Veterans Law Judge
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 19162724.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's melanoma is granted service connection. Service connection for skin cancer other than melanoma is remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the DIC benefits claim due to a failure to obtain relevant medical records from Jefferson City Health and Rehabilitation Center, which could provide information about the Veteran's diagnosis of melanoma.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that new and material evidence has been received to reopen the claim of service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death. The case is remanded for a VA medical opinion regarding the etiology of the Veteran's fatal renal cancer, including whether it was caused by exposure to Agent Orange or secondary to his service-connected prostate cancer.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of death due to metastatic renal cell carcinoma, finding no evidence linking it to in-service toxic exposures.
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