The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for kidney removal and thyroid removal as secondary to herbicide exposure due to potential discrepancies in medical opinions and diagnoses.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner's rationale was based on presumptive conditions under 3.309(e), which may not apply to the Veteran’s specific conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- kidney removal, thyroid removal
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 5, 2019
- Citation
- 19183352
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,480 · Granted: 26% (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 19183352.
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.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the appeals for service connection of thyroid removal, heart condition (including PVC), and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) due to the Veteran's withdrawal prior to a decision.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for service connection for kidney removal and prostate cancer due to potential exposure to herbicide agents during his service in Panama. The VA will need to gather additional medical records, verify the Veteran's lay reports of exposure, and provide a retrospective medical opinion regarding the etiology of these conditions.
- Denied
The Board denied increased ratings for kidney cancer, kidney removal, painful periumbilical scar status post partial nephrectomy, and surgical scars status post partial nephrectomy. The effective date of service connection was granted as May 13, 2023.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for kidney cancer, kidney removal, and scarring status post kidney removal due to insufficient evidence and the need for a VA examination.
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