The Veteran's claims for service connection for heart disease, skin cancer, and cerebrovascular accident with residuals of left side weakness were denied as there was no evidence to support the presence of these conditions during or related to his military service.
The deciding factor: There is no credible evidence showing that the Veteran had any in-service injury, event, or illness resulting in the claimed disabilities. The Board found that the Veteran's current conditions are not linked to his military service and did not find any direct service connection based on the presumption of herbicide exposure as he was not shown to have served in Vietnam.
- Claimed conditions
- heart disease, skin cancer, cerebrovascular accident with residuals of left side weakness
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 14, 2020
- Citation
- 20066339
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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The appeal for service connection for skin cancer was dismissed due to untimeliness, while the claim for squamous cell carcinoma was granted.
- Dismissed
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- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for an eye condition, hearing loss, heart disease, arthritis, and diabetes due to a regulatory duty to assist error.
- Partly granted
Service connection for prostate cancer on an accrued basis was granted based on the benefit-of-the-doubt doctrine, finding competent and credible evidence at least approximately balanced between service-connected prostatitis and prostate cancer. Service connection was denied for stomach cancer, colon cancer, skin cancer, the Veteran's cause of death, and dependency indemnity compensation benefits.
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