The Board has remanded the case due to lack of substantial compliance with its August 2019 remand directives and insufficient consideration of the Veteran's claim for service connection for throat cancer, which is not a listed disease associated with Agent Orange exposure. The Veteran should be provided a new VA medical opinion addressing her service connection claim.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the previous examination did not adequately address the etiology of the Veteran’s throat cancer and remanded to provide a new opinion focusing on whether it is at least as likely as not related to active duty service, including herbicide exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- cancer of the throat
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 27, 2020
- Citation
- 20075890
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 20075890.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied service connection for nerves (physical condition) due to a lack of evidence showing the presence of a current disability. The claims for cancer of the throat and nerves (mental condition) are remanded as there may be relevant private treatment records that have not been obtained.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient evidence regarding the cause of death and its relation to service. The Appellant needs to provide additional private treatment records, and a VA clinician will need to review these records to determine if the Veteran's cause of death was misdiagnosed or related to in-service exposure at Camp Lejeune.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for throat cancer to the Under Secretary for Health for a dose estimate of the Veteran's exposure to ionizing radiation, and if necessary, to the Under Secretary for Benefits for further consideration.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the appeals for service connection of cancer of the throat, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression as they have been granted in a previous rating decision.
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