The Veteran's claim for service connection for Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was received on September 30, 2015. The Board granted an earlier effective date of September 30, 2015, based on the presumption that exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune caused his cancer.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's claim was submitted more than one year after discharge from service and thus the effective date is set as the date of receipt of the claim (September 30, 2015).
- Claimed conditions
- Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Camp Lejeune water
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 21, 2020
- Citation
- 20004405
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,035 · Granted: 30% (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 20004405.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claim for Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma due to herbicide agent exposure is granted, as the evidence supports his Vietnam service and presumed exposure.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma due to herbicide agent exposure, finding that there was no evidence of herbicide exposure during his service in Panama and that the disease did not have its onset during or within one year after service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to incomplete discussion of residual conditions and the applicability of recent amendments to rating criteria.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases due to additional development being required. The Veteran's Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is potentially related to exposure to toxic substances found at United States military installations on Okinawa, but a VA examination is needed to determine if his neuropathy of the bilateral lower extremities is proximately due to or the result of service-connected Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
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