The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a skin disorder, including melanoma, due to exposure to herbicide agents. The evidence did not show that the Veteran had a current disability or that his condition was related to his military service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found no medical evidence linking the Veteran’s melanoma to his in-service exposure to herbicides and determined that it was less likely as not caused by Agent Orange.
- Claimed conditions
- melanoma, actinic keratosis
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19188370
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 19188370.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
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 the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his lung cancer was related to his service-connected melanoma.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for melanoma under the PACT Act, presumptively linking it to the Veteran's exposure to burn pits during his deployment in Saudi Arabia.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for PTSD, bilateral hearing loss, allergic rhinitis, sinusitis, unspecified anxiety disorder, seborrheic dermatitis, and denied increased ratings for left shoulder disability, myalgia, left-hand disability, right-hand disability, right shoulder disability, kidney stones, plantar fasciitis, lung disability, actinic keratosis, and squamous cell carcinoma. The Board remanded service connection claims for several conditions.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and actinic keratosis based on the Veteran's in-service exposure to solar radiation.
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