The Board has granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his metastatic malignancy, which contributed to his death, was related to his presumed exposure to herbicide agents in service.
The deciding factor: The VA medical opinion provided a positive nexus between the Veteran’s colon cancer and his herbicide agent exposure, resolving all reasonable doubt in favor of the appellant.
- Claimed conditions
- Cardiac arrest, Metastatic malignancy of unknown primary, Abdominal ileus
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 19, 2020
- Citation
- 20054792
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 20054792.
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.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's death was not caused by any service-connected disability, and therefore denied entitlement to service connection for the cause of his death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter to obtain relevant SSA records that could provide information pertinent to the Veteran's appeal.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding no evidence that a disability incurred in or aggravated by service either caused or contributed substantially to his cardiac arrest.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death on a basis other than the PACT Act, finding that there was no evidence to support exposure to herbicide agents during service in Thailand.
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