The Board has decided to remand the case due to the need for further medical opinions regarding the cause of death and the impact of heart conditions on the ability to receive a liver resection.
The deciding factor: The decision is based on the need for clarification regarding the cause of death, as well as an assessment of whether the Veteran's heart conditions contributed to his inability to undergo a gallbladder excision and liver resection that would have removed his cancer.
- Claimed conditions
- Mucinous adenocarcinoma of the gallbladder (MAGB), Cholangiocarcinoma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 19, 2019
- Citation
- 19187288
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that the evidence did not support a causal link between the Veteran's cholangiocarcinoma and his military service.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his cholangiocarcinoma was at least as likely as not related to his service-connected diabetes mellitus and/or in-service herbicide agent exposure.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his cholangiocarcinoma was related to in-service exposure to herbicide agents and/or parasitic infection.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death was intrahepatic biliary cancer, which the VA medical opinions concluded was not related to his military service or herbicide exposure.
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