The Veteran's death was caused by squamous cell carcinoma, which is service-connected on a direct basis due to exposure to Agent Orange. The Board grants an effective date of November 1, 2018 for DIC benefits.
The deciding factor: The cause of the Veteran's death (squamous cell carcinoma) can be directly linked to his in-service exposure to Agent Orange and service-connected conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- Squamous Cell skin cancer, Cerebrovascular accident (CVA), Atrial Fibrillation (A-Fib)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 12, 2024
- Citation
- A24083172
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 A24083172.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected unspecified anxiety disorder caused substance abuse, which in turn led to his cerebrovascular accident (CVA), tonic-clone seizures, anoxic brain damage, right upper extremity (RUE) tremors, and left upper extremity (LUE) tremors. The Board granted service connection for these conditions.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for a heart disability, CVA, and acquired psychiatric disability as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected conditions but denied increased ratings for hypertension, migraine headaches, status post anal fistulotomy, decreased visual acuity with diplopia associated with Graves' disease, and Graves' disease.
- Denied
The Board denied the Appellant's claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, as the evidence did not support a finding that his CVA or other conditions were related to his military service.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection of cerebrovascular accident (CVA) was denied, and the Board found no evidence of an earlier effective date.
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