The Board has granted the appellant's request to reopen her claim of service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death. The appeal is remanded due to insufficient evidence regarding the etiology of the Veteran’s pancreatic cancer and whether his diabetes mellitus contributed to his death.
The deciding factor: Further medical guidance is needed to determine the likely etiology of the Veteran's death-causing pancreatic cancer and whether his service-connected type 2 diabetes mellitus caused or hastened his death.
- Claimed conditions
- Pancreatic cancer, Type 2 diabetes mellitus
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 2, 2020
- Citation
- 20000010
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 service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his pancreatic cancer was related to herbicide exposure during his service in Vietnam.
- Dismissed
The appeals for service connection for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, carotid disease, chronic kidney disease, COPD, and type 2 diabetes mellitus are dismissed as moot.
- Denied
The Board denied the claims for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation under 38 U.S.C.� 1318, Survivors Pension, and service connection for the Veteran's cause of death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for pancreatic cancer and the Veteran's cause of death due to deficiencies in the record.
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