The Veteran's cause of death, metastatic kidney cancer, is found to be service-connected due to presumed exposure to herbicide agents in Vietnam. Service connection for the cause of death is granted.
The deciding factor: The positive nexus opinion from a private physician established that the Veteran's kidney cancer was at least as likely as not caused by herbicide agent exposure during his service in Vietnam, which is considered presumptive under VA regulations.
- Claimed conditions
- metastatic kidney cancer
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 19, 2026
- Citation
- A26025034
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 A26025034.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claims for metastatic kidney cancer, bladder cancer, nephrectomy of the right kidney secondary to kidney cancer, and spine cancer are all granted due to presumed exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
- Denied
The Veteran's death was not service-connected due to the cause of metastatic kidney cancer, which is not a presumptive condition for exposure to herbicide agents.,The surviving spouse did not meet the criteria for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) under 38 U.S.C. § 1318 as the Veteran was not continuously rated totally disabled for at least ten years immediately preceding death.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his kidney cancer is related to his exposure to herbicides in service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the cause of death (kidney cancer) may be related to service exposure to herbicides, but more evidence is needed to determine if this connection exists.
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