The Board granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, for purposes of receiving DIC, based on a finding that his AML was related to in-service herbicide exposure and contributed substantially to his death.
The deciding factor: The weight of the competent evidence is at least in approximate balance that the Veteran's AML was related to his in-service herbicide exposure and contributed to his death.
- Claimed conditions
- Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML)
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 17, 2025
- Citation
- 25015031
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,549 · Granted: 29% (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 25015031.
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 Board has granted the appeals to sever service connection for bladder cancer, acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), and a dental condition secondary to AML. The reasons given are that there was no clear and unmistakable error in granting these conditions of service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter for a medical opinion to determine if the Veteran's acute myelogenous leukemia was related to his service, including potential exposures to benzene and Agent Orange.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for cause of death due to acute myelogenous leukemia, as there are outstanding private treatment records and an inadequate VA medical opinion.
- Partly granted
The Veteran was granted a 100 percent rating for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) from January 22, 2016, to October 31, 2017, and a noncompensable rating from November 1, 2017. The Veteran's earlier effective dates for the grants of service connection for hemorrhoids, anal fissures, pruritus ani, skin disability, and eye disability were also granted.
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