The Board denied service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, finding that his fatal disabilities were not related to his military service, including presumed Agent Orange exposure.
The deciding factor: The VA clinician's opinion indicated no link between the Veteran's disabilities and herbicide exposure, citing extensive studies with no established association.
- Claimed conditions
- extensive bilateral pulmonary embolism, grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme, esophageal cancer, recurrent
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 7, 2021
- Citation
- 21062370
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for the Veteran's cause of death to correct predecisional duty to assist errors, including obtaining additional records and a medical nexus opinion.
- Granted
The Veteran's esophageal cancer is granted service connection due to herbicide exposure during his service in the Republic of Vietnam.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for gastrointestinal cancer other than esophageal cancer and stomach cancer, brain cancer, and prostate cancer. The issues of entitlement to service connection for esophageal cancer, metastatic esophageal cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer, and liver cancer were remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter for a new medical opinion to address the etiology of the Veteran's esophageal cancer, considering his in-service herbicide agent exposure and service-connected posttraumatic stress disorder.
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