The Board has decided that the Veteran's death was not caused by service-connected conditions, and thus remanded to obtain a medical opinion regarding the cause of his death.
The deciding factor: The Board found insufficient evidence linking the Veteran’s death to service-connected conditions or exposure to liver flukes in Vietnam.
- Claimed conditions
- upper gastrointestinal bleeding, cirrhosis-alcoholic, cholangiocarcinoma
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 20, 2019
- Citation
- 19195637
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 19195637.
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 Board granted an effective date of November 30, 2016, but not earlier, for the award of service connection for cholangiocarcinoma.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, cholangiocarcinoma, based on evidence supporting a direct relationship between the disease and the Veteran's in-service exposure to Agent Orange.
- Remanded (sent back)
The appeal for a survivor's pension was denied due to the appellant's countable income exceeding the maximum annual pension rate. The Board also remanded the issue of service connection for cause of death.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of death due to cholangiocarcinoma, finding no evidence that it was caused by exposure to herbicides or liver flukes during service, and also found no aggravation by a resolved laryngeal cancer.
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