The Board remands the claim for service connection of the Veteran's cause of death due to a presumed exposure to herbicides during his service in Vietnam.
The deciding factor: The AOJ failed to obtain a medical opinion addressing the possibility of a nexus between the claimed disabilities and toxic exposure risk activities, which was an error that needs correction.
- Claimed conditions
- intrahepatic bile duct carcinoma, idiopathic acute pancreatitis without necrosis or infection, pre-diabetes
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 24, 2025
- Citation
- A25016344
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,429 · 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 A25016344.
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.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for bile duct carcinoma and idiopathic acute pancreatitis without necrosis or infection, with pre-diabetes as cause of death. The evidence is in balance regarding whether these conditions are related to active service, specifically exposure to herbicides during service.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for service connection for pre-diabetes, chronic back pain, left lower extremity radiculopathy, right lower extremity radiculopathy, right upper extremity radiculopathy, and left upper extremity radiculopathy have all been denied.,Service connection for a respiratory condition (to include COPD, chronic cough, and dyspnea) and a left lung nodule has also been denied.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for pre-diabetes, cholecystectomy, a liver disability (non-alcoholic fatty liver), lung disability (pleural effusion), and an acquired psychiatric disorder (major depressive disorder and/or PTSD) due to lack of evidence supporting a link between these conditions and the Veteran's military service.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for the Veteran's cause of death, intrahepatic bile duct carcinoma, due to presumed exposure to burn pits under the PACT Act.
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