The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to insufficient opinions regarding his breathing disorder and colon cancer, which are related to exposure to agent orange.
The deciding factor: The VA examiners provided inadequate rationale in their initial opinions without addressing the specific issues raised by the Veteran regarding asbestos exposure and plausible exposures during active duty.
- Claimed conditions
- Breathing Disorder, Colon Cancer
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 18, 2023
- Citation
- 23003172
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 23003172.
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities were not of such severity to prevent him from securing or following any substantially gainful occupation, and his TDIU claim was denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 due to insufficient evidence showing that VA's failure to diagnose the Veteran's colon cancer resulted in additional disability.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death was due to respiratory failure from lung cancer, which was metastatic from his primary colon cancer. The Board found that the Veteran's lung cancer and colon cancer were not related to service or any in-service exposure.
- Denied
The Veteran's appeals for service connection for colon cancer and hypertension were denied in the April 2024 Board decision. The reduction of his disability rating from 50% to 30% was found proper.
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