The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for diabetes mellitus, heart disability, and skin cancer due to in-service herbicide exposure. The VA will conduct further development regarding the Veteran’s service within the territorial sea of Vietnam while aboard the USS Hooper, as well as address his heart disability claim.
The deciding factor: The Board found that there was insufficient information on whether the Veteran had service within the 12 nautical mile territorial sea of Vietnam and also needed to determine if the Veteran's current heart disability is related to in-service herbicide exposure or diabetes mellitus, type II.
- Claimed conditions
- diabetes mellitus, type II, heart disability, skin cancer
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 16, 2020
- Citation
- 20004153
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,374 · Granted: 19% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted 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. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 20004153.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his appeal regarding the claims for sleep apnea and an increased disability rating for diabetes mellitus, type II.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II, as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected PTSD. The decision finds that the Veteran's diabetes mellitus, type II is proximately due to his service-connected PTSD.
- Granted
The Veteran's diabetes mellitus, type II, is granted on a secondary basis with obesity serving as an intermediate step due to service-connected low back disability, sciatica, and right shoulder disabilities.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II and left arm tremors. Service connection for right hand tremors is also granted. The Veteran's tinnitus claim was denied as there is no current diagnosis of tinnitus.
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