The Board denied service connection for squamous cell cancer of the throat, finding that there was no evidence linking it to service or herbicide exposure.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner concluded that the Veteran's squamous cell carcinoma is less likely as not related to his military service, including exposure to herbicides.
- Claimed conditions
- squamous cell cancer of the throat
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 12, 2021
- Citation
- 21062774
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,861 · Granted: 27% (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 21062774.
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 additional development to correct a pre-decisional duty to assist error related to an inadequate VA opinion regarding the Veteran's squamous cell cancer of the throat.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to an inadequate rationale in a previous opinion, and another opinion is needed to determine if squamous cell cancer of the throat is related to service, including herbicide exposure.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for squamous cell cancer of the throat, finding no evidence linking it to his military service or herbicide exposure.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran seeks service connection for squamous cell cancer of the throat based on in-service exposure to herbicides. The claim is remanded due to insufficient evidence regarding a link between Agent Orange exposure and the development of squamous cell carcinoma.
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