The Board has granted service connection for stomach cancer, which is a soft-tissue sarcoma, due to exposure to herbicide agents during active duty. The Veteran's claim is based on the presumption of herbicide agent exposure and his diagnosed gastrointestinal stromal tumor.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the Veteran was exposed to herbicide agents during service and has been diagnosed with a soft-tissue sarcoma, which is one of the diseases associated with such exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- stomach cancer, gastrointestinal stromal tumor
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 22, 2019
- Citation
- 19188644
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 19188644.
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.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeal for service connection for diabetes, glaucoma, left foot and toe tingling and numbness sensation, left hand and fingers tingling and numbness sensation, right foot and toe tingling and numbness sensation, right hand and fingers tingling and numbness sensation, and stomach cancer as moot.
- Partly granted
Service connection for prostate cancer on an accrued basis was granted based on the benefit-of-the-doubt doctrine, finding competent and credible evidence at least approximately balanced between service-connected prostatitis and prostate cancer. Service connection was denied for stomach cancer, colon cancer, skin cancer, the Veteran's cause of death, and dependency indemnity compensation benefits.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for gastrointestinal cancer other than esophageal cancer and stomach cancer, brain cancer, and prostate cancer. The issues of entitlement to service connection for esophageal cancer, metastatic esophageal cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer, and liver cancer were remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter of entitlement to service connection for stomach cancer due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors, including the need to obtain VistA images and an adequate medical opinion.
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