The Board remands the claims for service connection for metastatic colorectal cancer and lung cancer due to deficiencies in the AOJ's duty-to-assist, including failure to obtain complete service treatment records and an adequate VA medical opinion.
The deciding factor: Remand is necessary to correct the AOJ's errors in failing to ensure that the Veteran's complete service treatment records were part of the record prior to the September 2024 rating decision on appeal and to obtain an adequate VA medical opinion.
- Claimed conditions
- lung cancer (colorectal cancer in the lung), metastatic colorectal cancer
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 14, 2025
- Citation
- A25099128
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,614 · Granted: 35% (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 A25099128.
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 appeal was dismissed due to the Veteran's death before a Board decision could be made.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for metastatic colorectal cancer, finding that the Veteran's current condition is related to his exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune during his active duty service.
- Granted
The Veteran's lung cancer is granted as secondary to his service-connected metastatic colorectal cancer, which resulted from presumed Agent Orange exposure.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for cause of death, finding that his metastatic colorectal cancer was likely caused by his in-service exposure to Agent Orange.
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