The Board remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, as additional development is necessary.
The deciding factor: The examiner's opinion was found inadequate and did not address the likelihood of a relationship between the Veteran's service-connected disabilities and his liver cancer, including exposure to herbicide agents during service in Vietnam.
- 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
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection of the Veteran's cause of death to correct pre-decisional duty-to-assist errors, including obtaining a medical opinion on the relationship between the Veteran's causes of death and his presumed Agent Orange exposure.
- Denied
The Board denied an earlier effective date for the award of service connection for lung cancer, metastatic bone cancer, and lymph node cancer.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remanded the case to reevaluate the veteran's liver cancer rating post-transplant. The Board found that the liver transplant was likely due to service-connected liver cancer.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for all claimed conditions, including hypertension, hypothyroidism, loss of vision in the left eye, prostate cancer, and metastatic bone cancer. The decision was based on a lack of evidence linking these conditions to military service.
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