The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinions regarding whether the Veteran's service-connected disabilities caused or contributed substantially to his death, and whether the principal cause of his death was related to a disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by service, including presumed exposure to herbicide agents during service.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the April 2022 VA medical opinion was insufficient for rating purposes due to its failure to address the likelihood of a relationship between the Veteran's hepatitis C and his liver cancer, which may have been related to his in-service exposure to herbicide agents.
- Claimed conditions
- Hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer), Metastatic bone cancer
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 3, 2023
- Citation
- 23000133
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,757 · Granted: 23% (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 23000133.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's eligibility for specially adapted housing is granted due to his service-connected disabilities, specifically prostate cancer and metastatic bone cancer, which have rendered him unable to walk.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, which was hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer), based on the evidence supporting a link to herbicide exposure during service.
- Denied
The Board denied DIC benefits due to the Veteran's death not being caused by VA carelessness, negligence, or similar fault. The Appellant argued that VA was negligent in failing to diagnose liver cancer earlier, but the VA medical opinion concluded that VA did not fail to exercise proper care.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, concluding that his liver cancer and metastatic bone cancer were not caused by or aggravated by his military service.
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