The Veteran's cause of death is not service-connected due to lack of evidence linking the condition to his military service.
The deciding factor: The Board found no in-service incident, event or illness that could be etiologically linked to the Veteran's cause of death and did not find any exposure to herbicides during active service.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the lung
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19189061
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,341 · Granted: 33% (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 19189061.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has reopened the claim for service connection for cause of death due to exposure to Agent Orange while working as an aircraft mechanic in Thailand. However, the case is remanded for further consideration on the merits.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the grant of service connection for cause of the Veteran's death was not clearly and unmistakably erroneous, thus restoring service connection.
- Granted
The Veteran's metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the lung is granted service connection as it was related to herbicide exposure during service. The claim for a low back disorder remains pending and requires additional development.
- Denied
The veteran's death was caused by metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the lung, which is not service-connected as it did not occur during his active duty or due to exposure to herbicides. The Board found that there was no evidence linking the cause of death to his period of service.
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