The Board remands the claim for service connection of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland to obtain an adequate medical opinion that considers all theories of entitlement, including direct service connection.
The deciding factor: Adequate medical opinions have not been obtained to determine if there is a causal relationship between the Veteran's current diagnosed disability and his in-service herbicide exposure or other potential toxins.
- Claimed conditions
- papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 7, 2025
- Citation
- A25086296
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 882 · 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 A25086296.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland is remanded for further examination and opinion regarding its relationship to service, specifically in-service exposure to herbicide agents.
- Denied
The Veteran's papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland was not incurred in or aggravated by active duty, nor may its incurrence or aggravation during such service be presumed. The Board denied service connection for this condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland is not presumed service-connected due to lack of exposure to Agent Orange. However, his private physician suggests a possible connection to Agent Orange exposure during service. Therefore, a VA examination is needed to determine if there is a 50% or better probability that the condition is related to service.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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