The Board remands the claim for service connection for cause of death to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors, including obtaining a medical opinion and additional records.
The deciding factor: Remand is necessary due to inadequate medical evidence regarding the Veteran's cholangiocarcinoma and its relation to Agent Orange exposure during service.
- Claimed conditions
- pulmonary embolus, cholangio carcinoma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 9, 2025
- Citation
- A25087480
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 237 · Granted: 39% (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 A25087480.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran passed away while under VA care and at VA expense, meeting the criteria for non-service-connected burial benefits.
- Remanded (sent back)
The appeal for service connection for bilateral hearing loss is remanded.,The appeal for service connection for pulmonary embolus is remanded.,The appeal for service connection for deep vein thrombosis and venous embolism and thrombosis of the right lower extremity is remanded.,The appeal for service connection for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is remanded.,The appeal for service connection for a disability of the right knee is remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to inadequate opinions from VA examiners regarding the Veteran's heart problems and their relation to service, specifically his exposure to gas in gas chambers.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's heart problems, including atrial fibrillation, deep vein thrombosis, and pulmonary embolus, did not begin during service or are otherwise related to an in-service injury or disease. The claim for service connection is denied.
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