The Board granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death due to brain cancer, which was determined to be related to in-service herbicide exposure.
The deciding factor: The private opinion provided by a clinician concluded that the Veteran's in-service exposure to Agent Orange led to his development of brain cancer and ultimately his death, despite it not being on the list of presumptive diseases from Agent Orange exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- Brain cancer
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 3, 2025
- Citation
- A25085501
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,199 · Granted: 25% (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 A25085501.
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 has remanded the claims for service connection for brain cancer, low back disability, and cervical spine disability due to a pre-decisional error in failing to obtain a radiation dose estimate from the Under Secretary for Health. The Veteran's military service aboard USS ENTERPRISE is considered relevant to his exposure to ionizing radiation.
- Granted
The Veteran's brain cancer is granted as service-connected due to in-service herbicide exposure, specifically Agent Orange.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection for brain cancer as of August 14, 2018 is granted due to a link between his in-service toxic exposure and his diagnosed condition. Service connection for bilateral hearing loss is denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death to obtain a new VA opinion considering the appellant's submitted favorable medical and scientific literature.
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