The Board remands the claims for service connection for a respiratory disorder and kidney cancer to correct duty to assist errors that occurred prior to the September 2023 decision on appeal.
The deciding factor: The medical opinions provided were found inadequate due to their failure to adequately address the Veteran's conceded exposures and other relevant factors, necessitating further development of the record.
- Claimed conditions
- Kidney cancer, Respiratory disorder, to include asthma, emphysema, and COPD
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 26, 2025
- Citation
- A25017335
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,902 · Granted: 11% (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 A25017335.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's claims for service connection for bladder and kidney cancer were dismissed as the Notice of Disagreement was not filed within one year of the denial.
- Denied
The Veteran's kidney cancer is already rated at 100% and a separate temporary total rating for convalescence is denied as the condition remains active.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection for PTSD, a kidney cyst (claimed as kidney abscess), kidney cancer, kidney disease, and benign prostatic hyperplasia due to lack of evidence supporting a link between these conditions and his military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for a low back disability, left hip disability, right hip disability, prostate disability, and kidney cancer due to inadequate medical opinions and potential outstanding VA treatment records.
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