The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical evidence linking the Veteran's squamous cell lung cancer to his in-service exposure to herbicide agents. A VA medical opinion is needed to determine if there is a relationship between the cancer and service.
The deciding factor: The medical opinions provided by private physicians do not include sufficient rationale to support a grant of the claim, and thus a remand for a VA medical opinion is necessary.
- Claimed conditions
- squamous cell cancer of the lungs
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Burn pits / airborne hazards
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- December 12, 2019
- Citation
- 19193543
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,890 · Granted: 32% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 19193543.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied service connection for squamous cell cancer of the lungs, finding that it was not incurred in or related to active duty service and did not have a presumptive link due to herbicide exposure.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient compliance with a previous remand directive regarding an examination and opinion on whether the Veteran's squamous cell cancer of the lungs is related to his in-service exposure to herbicides. The examiner must provide a new opinion addressing three medical opinions that suggest such a connection.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied service connection for tinnitus and squamous cell cancer of the lungs, finding no current evidence linking these conditions to active service.
- Whole decision: Dismissed
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for diabetes mellitus type II with erectile dysfunction was denied as the evidence did not show that he had been diagnosed and manifested to at least a 10 percent disability rating on or prior to May 8, 2001.
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