The Board has remanded the Veteran's claim for service connection for skin cancer, specifically melanoma, due to insufficient evidence regarding the cause of his condition. The Veteran is presumed to have been exposed to herbicide agents during service but not to skin cancers.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not provide a full opinion regarding the etiology of the Veteran's skin cancer that addressed all theories of service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 24, 2020
- Citation
- 20005982
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 cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his lung cancer was related to his service-connected melanoma.
- Partly granted
The appeal for service connection for skin cancer was dismissed due to untimeliness, while the claim for squamous cell carcinoma was granted.
- Partly granted
The Board dismissed the claim for service connection for headaches and remanded claims for service connection for various other conditions, including open angle glaucoma, sensorineural hearing loss, asthma, heart disease, bladder cancer, and squamous cell carcinoma.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for supraventricular arrhythmias, basal cell carcinoma, kidney stones, and COPD as the AOJ failed to substantially comply with prior remand directives.
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This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.