The Board has denied service connection for leukemia and remanded the issue of service connection for right eye/eyelid melanoma due to herbicide exposure or as secondary to a service-connected disability, including MDS.
The deciding factor: The most probative evidence does not establish that the Veteran has had leukemia at any time during his claim period. The Board finds the opinions from Drs. Chinratanalab, Savani, and King more persuasive than self-reported diagnoses of leukemia without supporting rationale and diagnostic findings.
- Claimed conditions
- Leukemia, Right eye/eyelid melanoma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Burn pits / airborne hazards
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 3, 2019
- Citation
- 19190634
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,669 · Granted: 23% (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 19190634.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected PTSD and Leukemia have prevented him from obtaining or maintaining employment, leading to a grant of TDIU.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to errors in duty to assist and needs additional medical opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's leukemia.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to a failure to obtain a VA medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's cause of death was related to his in-service exposure to herbicide agents, and whether it is at least as likely as not that the causes were proximately due or aggravated by service-connected conditions.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for leukemia, finding that his exposure to radiation during Operation Sandstone qualifies him as a presumptive radiation-exposed veteran and thus meeting the criteria for service connection.
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