The Board has remanded the case due to a lack of adequate VA medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's cause of death, leukemia, is related to service exposure to Agent Orange.
The deciding factor: The VA medical opinion obtained in response to the March 2016 private medical opinion was incomplete and did not consider whether the Veteran’s CML is related to his in-service Agent Orange exposure on a facts found basis.
- Claimed conditions
- Leukemia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 13, 2020
- Citation
- 20002873
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 Veteran's cause of death, finding that his leukemia was related to in-service exposure to jet fuels, benzene, and TCE.
- Granted
The Board granted an effective date of [REDACTED], 2016, for the award of dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) based on direct service connection for the Veteran's cause of death.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for leukemia and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) based on the Veteran's death, finding that his in-service exposure to chemicals contributed to his leukemia which was a significant cause of his death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for leukemia to afford the Veteran a VA examination to determine its nature and etiology.
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