The Board has remanded the claims for service connection due to exposure to herbicide agents, including Agent Orange, in Thailand. The Veteran's personal records show he was deployed in U-Tapao Navy Air Force Base in Thailand during the Vietnam Era and had work duties that placed him at or near the perimeter where there was known use of herbicide agents.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the Veteran may have been exposed to herbicide agents, but urothelial/bladder cancer is not a disease listed as warranting a presumption of service connection based on exposure to herbicide agents. However, bladder cancer has now shown 'limited or suggestive' evidence of an association with Agent Orange exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- transitional cell carcinoma (urothelial/bladder cancer), left renal pelvis
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 9, 2020
- Citation
- 20001823
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a medical opinion addressing whether the Veteran's left eye condition is related to service, as it found that the condition did not preexist service.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for prostate cancer, related to in-service exposures at Camp Lejeune.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted an effective date of August 10, 2022, for the grant of service connection for sinusitis based on the PACT Act.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for left and right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, finding that the conditions are related to in-service herbicide agent exposure.
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