The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to insufficient evidence regarding the cause of his skin conditions. The VA will provide additional examinations and opinions to address this issue.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not consider post-service sun exposure in their opinion, which is a critical factor in determining whether the Veteran's current diagnoses are related to his military service.
- Claimed conditions
- squamous cell carcinoma of the scalp, actinic keratosis of the arms, face, neck, and ears, basal cell carcinoma of the arms, face, neck, and ears
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 9, 2019
- Citation
- 19177760
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,287 · Granted: 23% (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 19177760.
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 squamous cell carcinoma of the scalp, chronic kidney disease, and liver disease, subject to regulations governing payment of monetary benefits.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to inadequate examination and opinion regarding service connection for skin cancer. A new VA examination is needed.
- Granted
The Veteran's claims of service connection for Type II diabetes mellitus, prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and skin cancer are granted due to presumed exposure to herbicide agents (Agent Orange) during his service in Thailand. The Veteran was exposed to Agent Orange as a result of his active duty in Thailand.
- Granted
The Veteran's squamous cell carcinoma of the scalp and painful and unstable scarring of the face and neck have been rated at 30 percent since October 23, 2008. The rating for squamous cell carcinoma has not changed from that date.
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