The Veteran's cause of death, gastric cancer, is related to his exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune during service. The Board granted service connection for the cause of death based on direct service connection.
The deciding factor: The private medical opinion established a link between the Veteran's exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune and his diagnosed gastric cancer, which was related to his military service.
- Claimed conditions
- gastric cancer
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Camp Lejeune water
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 25, 2026
- Citation
- A26026805
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 A26026805.
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 case due to a duty to assist error regarding the relationship between the Veteran's toxic exposure and his cause of death, gastric cancer. The VA clinician provided an inadequate opinion.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the AOJ failed to identify presumptive toxic exposures, including garrison exposure(s), associated with the Veteran's MOSs or obtain a related medical opinion addressing whether there is a nexus between any such exposure and the Veteran's gastric cancer. The case is being remanded for further development.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for metastatic liver disease and gastric cancer due to a duty to assist error in not obtaining medical records from Darnell Army Medical Center at Fort Hood (DACH) from 1995 to 2020.
- Granted
The Veteran's death from gastric cancer and renal failure was service-connected due to exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
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