The Veteran's cause of death, metastatic esophageal cancer with metabolic encephalopathy, is not related to his military service and therefore the claim for service connection for the cause of death is denied.
The deciding factor: The medical evidence does not support a link between the Veteran's esophageal cancer and his military service or exposure to herbicide agents. The VA examiner opined that the Veteran's prostate cancer did not substantially contribute to his esophageal cancer, which ultimately resulted in his death.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic esophageal cancer, metabolic encephalopathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 18, 2021
- Citation
- 21069274
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 21069274.
What this means for you
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's death was caused by cardiorespiratory arrest and metastatic esophageal cancer. The appellant is recognized as the surviving spouse, but service connection for cause of death remains pending due to insufficient information on in-service exposure to herbicide agents.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for the cause of death and burial benefits due to a lack of medical opinion regarding the Veteran's exposure at Camp Lejeune, which could impact his eligibility for these benefits.
- 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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death and for metastatic esophageal cancer, liver cancer, and lymph node cancer as they were not related to the Veteran's service or presumed exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
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