The Board denied service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, metastatic breast cancer, finding that there was no evidence linking the condition to in-service herbicide exposure. The Board also found that the evidence did not support a link between the Veteran's exposure to carcinogens/dioxins and his manifestation of breast cancer many years after service.
The deciding factor: The September 2018 VA opinion provided an in-depth review of the claims file, including prior medical opinions with supporting private medical records, and STRs. The physician emphasized that although herbicide agent exposure is presumptively linked to several types of cancers, breast cancer is not an enumerated presumptive disease due to herbicide agent exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic breast cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 18, 2023
- Citation
- 23016721
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 23016721.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The appeal has been dismissed due to the Veteran's death. No service connection decisions have been made for any of the listed conditions.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death, metastatic breast cancer, is not related to his service or exposure to herbicide agents. The Board denied the claim for service connection.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death was listed as metastatic breast cancer. The Board found that the evidence does not support a finding that this condition is related to service, including exposure to herbicide agents like Agent Orange.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claim of service connection for metastatic breast cancer due to conflicting evidence and lack of a medical opinion linking the cause of death to service or Agent Orange exposure.
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