The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for prostate cancer and coronary artery disease as secondary to herbicide agent exposure due to a lack of clarity regarding his service in Vietnam. The Veteran served aboard the U.S.S. Valley Forge, but it is unclear if he was within the 12 nautical mile territorial sea during the relevant timeframe.
The deciding factor: The Board found that further development is needed to determine whether the Veteran's service aboard the U.S.S. Valley Forge included time within the 12 nautical mile territorial sea of Vietnam, which would affect his eligibility for presumptive service connection under the Agent Orange Act.
- Claimed conditions
- prostate cancer, coronary artery disease
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 21, 2020
- Citation
- 20004243
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,455 · Granted: 23% (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 20004243.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for diabetes mellitus, prostate cancer, visual impairment, hypertension, and erectile dysfunction due to lack of exposure to herbicide agents during service. The Veteran's claims were not granted.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for prostate cancer, bone cancer, and lymph node cancer has been granted. The prostate cancer is presumed due to herbicide agent exposure during service at RTAFB Takhli. Bone cancer is secondary to the service-connected prostate cancer. Lymph node cancer is also considered secondary to prostate cancer.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an increased rating for coronary artery disease is being remanded due to the inadequacy of a previous VA examination.
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