The Board remands the claims for service connection for diabetes, a respiratory disorder, ischemic heart disease, and pancreatic cancer to conduct further development to verify the Veteran's alleged exposure to herbicide agents during service.
The deciding factor: Further development is necessary to verify the Veteran's claimed in-service exposure to herbicide agents as required by the April 2024 Board directives.
- Claimed conditions
- diabetes, respiratory disorder, ischemic heart disease, pancreatic cancer
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 2, 2025
- Citation
- 25004515
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 Board denied service connection for pancreatic cancer as there was no evidence of a nexus between the in-service toxic exposure and the current condition.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for multiple conditions, including an acquired psychiatric disorder, sleep apnea, hypertension, and various musculoskeletal and skin disabilities.
- Partly granted
The Board grants service connection for tinnitus, finding that the Veteran's tinnitus began during his period of active duty service. The claims for ischemic heart disease, aortic valve replacement, status post aortic stenosis, and peripheral vascular disease with popliteal aneurysm are remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the case to obtain a new medical opinion regarding the Veteran's ischemic heart disease, as the previous opinions were found inadequate.
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