The Board has granted the Veteran's petition to readjudicate his claim for service connection for thyroid cancer, finding that new evidence submitted by the Veteran supports a causal link between his in-service exposure to Agent Orange and his current condition.
The deciding factor: The Board found Dr. Patete's statements of association between Agent Orange exposure and the development of thyroid cancer to be more probative than the VA examiner's opinion, which lacked rationale and was based solely on regulations regarding conditions presumed caused by herbicide exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- thyroid cancer
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 15, 2022
- Citation
- A22023126
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 A22023126.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew their appeal, so the case is dismissed.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for prostate cancer and associated residuals (claimed as testicular cancer) and thyroid cancer, finding that the evidence did not support a link to military service or exposure.
- Granted
The Veteran's hypothyroidism is granted as secondary to his service-connected thyroid cancer, which was caused by exposure to herbicide agents during his naval service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases of diabetes mellitus type II, left lower extremity peripheral neuropathy (LLE PN), right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy (RLE PN), and thyroid cancer for further development. The Veteran's claims are related to his exposure to herbicide agents at Fort McClellan (FTMC) in Anniston, AL.
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