The Veteran's renal cell carcinoma is found to be at least as likely as not related to his service exposure to ionizing radiation, and the claim for service connection is granted.
The deciding factor: A private physician provided a medical opinion linking the Veteran's kidney cancer to his known exposure to ionizing radiation during service.
- Claimed conditions
- Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Burn pits / airborne hazards
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 22, 2020
- Citation
- 20080528
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,726 · Granted: 19% (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 20080528.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for service connection for renal cell carcinoma is being remanded due to the submission of new and material evidence. The Board will schedule a VA examination to determine if RCC is related to his service, including herbicide agent exposure.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for his renal cell carcinoma (RCC) due to both Agent Orange exposure and secondary to his service-connected diabetes mellitus type II (DM).,The evidence did not support a link between RCC and either DM or Agent Orange exposure.
- Granted
The Veteran's GIST and RCC are found to be secondary to his service-connected post-operative orchiectomy, left testicle, status post stage 1 seminoma due to radiation therapy. The Board granted the claims based on the evidence being in equipoise.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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