The Board remands the claims for service connection for kidney and thyroid cancer to obtain additional medical opinions regarding their etiology, specifically addressing the Veteran's exposure to herbicide agents during service.
The deciding factor: The previous medical opinions did not adequately address the relevant risk factors in light of the Veteran's medical history and service exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of kidney cancer, residuals of thyroid cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 20, 2025
- Citation
- 25002538
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,421 · Granted: 31% (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 25002538.
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 Veteran's claims for a higher rating for kidney cancer and service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder are remanded due to the need for additional examinations and medical opinions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for residuals of kidney cancer to correct an error by the AOJ and ensure adequate development of the evidence regarding potential toxic exposure during service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for further development, including obtaining an addendum medical opinion regarding the etiologies of the Veteran's thyroid and kidney cancers.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issues of entitlement to service connection for colon cancer and kidney cancer due to a lack of compliance with its previous remand directives.
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