The Board granted service connection for esophageal cancer, on a direct basis, resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor due to presumed exposure to contaminants at Camp Lejeune.
The deciding factor: The evidence is at least evenly balanced as to whether the Veteran's esophageal cancer is causally related to his presumed in-service exposure to the contaminants in Camp Lejeune's drinking water, and reasonable doubt was resolved in the Veteran's favor.
- Claimed conditions
- esophageal cancer
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Camp Lejeune water
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- July 2, 2025
- Citation
- A25057262
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for the Veteran's cause of death to correct predecisional duty to assist errors, including obtaining additional records and a medical nexus opinion.
- Granted
The Veteran's esophageal cancer is granted service connection due to herbicide exposure during his service in the Republic of Vietnam.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for gastrointestinal cancer other than esophageal cancer and stomach cancer, brain cancer, and prostate cancer. The issues of entitlement to service connection for esophageal cancer, metastatic esophageal cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer, and liver cancer were remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter for a new medical opinion to address the etiology of the Veteran's esophageal cancer, considering his in-service herbicide agent exposure and service-connected posttraumatic stress disorder.
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