The Veteran's lung cancer was granted service connection as it is presumed to have been caused by his exposure to herbicide agents during service. Service connection for left and right knee disorders were denied due to lack of in-service event, injury or disease. An initial compensable rating for bilateral hearing loss was not granted.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's lung cancer was found to be a presumptive condition based on his exposure to herbicide agents during service. Service connection for left and right knee disorders were denied as there is no evidence of an in-service event, injury or disease. The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss did not meet the criteria for a compensable rating under VA regulations.
- Claimed conditions
- left knee disorder, to include osteoarthritis, pain, subtrochanteric femur fracture and degenerative joint disease, metastatic lung cancer, right knee disorder, to include osteoarthritis and pain
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 6, 2019
- Citation
- 19191986
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,242 · Granted: 24% (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 19191986.
What this means for you
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's cause of death, metastatic lung cancer, was found to be related to service and caused or contributed substantially to the Veteran's death. The Board granted entitlement to service connection for the Veteran's cause of death.
- Granted
The Veteran's cause of death was metastatic neuroendocrine carcinoma, which is presumed to be related to his exposure to herbicides during service in Vietnam. The Board found that the Veteran's service-connected metastatic lung cancer contributed substantially or materially to his death.,Entitlement to DIC under 38 U.S.C. § 1318 was dismissed as moot due to the grant of service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient evidence regarding whether the Veteran's esophageal cancer, which caused his death, was related to his service exposure to herbicide agents.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death was not caused by a service-connected disability, and the cancer did not manifest to a compensable degree within one year after discharge from service. The Veteran was rated 100% disabled for his mental health disorder less than two years before his death, but he was not rated continuously for ten years preceding death or continuously since release from active duty for at least five years preceding death.
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