The Board remands the claims for service connection for left hydronephrosis and pancreatic cancer due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
The deciding factor: Remand is necessary to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors, including failure to provide a TERA examination and opinion, and obtain a dose assessment as required by 38 C.F.R. § 3.311 for the pancreatic cancer claim.
- Claimed conditions
- left hydronephrosis, pancreatic cancer
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 18, 2025
- Citation
- A25100126
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 878 · Granted: 46% (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 A25100126.
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's cause of death was not caused by a disability incurred or aggravated in service, and the Board denied the claim for service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has dismissed the appeal for accrued benefits and has remanded the issue of service connection for cause of death, as there was a duty to assist error related to obtaining a medical nexus opinion regarding in-service herbicide agent exposure.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for liver cancer, lung cancer, and pancreatic cancer, finding that the evidence is at least in equipoise as to whether these conditions are attributable to the Veteran's in-service exposure to herbicide agents (Agent Orange).
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's spouse is seeking to be substituted as the appellant for claims of service connection filed by the Veteran in August 2017. The AOJ has not yet determined whether she meets the requirements to substitute, and this issue must be remanded.
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