Citation Nr: 18159012 Decision Date: 12/18/18 Archive Date: 12/18/18 DOCKET NO. 15-00 718A DATE: December 18, 2018 REMANDED The issue of entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death claimed as the result of herbicide agent exposure is remanded. The issue of entitlement to compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for the cause of the Veteran’s death is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND 1. The issue of entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death claimed as the result of herbicide agent exposure is remanded. In order to establish service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death, the evidence must show that disability incurred in or aggravated by active service either caused or contributed substantially or materially to the Veteran’s demise. For a service connected disability to be the cause of death, it must singly or with some other condition be the immediate or underlying cause or be etiologically related to the cause of death. For a service connected disability to constitute a contributory cause of death, it is not sufficient to show that it casually shared in producing death, but rather it must be shown that there was a causal connection. 38 U.S.C. § 1310; 38 C.F.R. § 3.312. Service connection may be granted for recurrent disability arising from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110. Where a veteran served ninety days or more during a period of war or during peacetime service after December 31, 1946, and a malignant tumor, including colon cancer, becomes manifest to a degree of ten percent within one year of termination of such service, such disease shall be presumed to have been incurred in service even though there is no evidence of such disease during the period of service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1112, 1113, 1137; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309. Where a veteran was exposed to an herbicide agent during active military, naval, or air service, and either (1) AL amyloidosis, Type II diabetes mellitus, Hodgkin’s disease, ischemic heart disease (including, but not limited to, acute, subacute, and old myocardial infarction; atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease including coronary artery disease (including coronary spasm) and coronary bypass surgery; and stable, unstable and Prinzmetal’s angina), all chronic B-cell leukemias (including, but not limited to, hairy-cell leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia), multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Parkinson’s disease, prostate cancer, respiratory cancers (including cancer of the lung, bronchus, larynx, or trachea), and/or soft-tissue sarcoma become manifest to a degree of 10 percent or more at any time after service or (2) chloracne or other acneform disease consistent with chloracne, porphyria cutanea tarda, and acute and subacute peripheral neuropathy become manifest to a degree of 10 percent or more within a year after the last date on which the Veteran was exposed to an herbicide agent during active military, naval, or air service, service connection shall be established for such disability if the requirements of 38 C.F.R. § 3.307 (a)(6) are met even though there is no record of such disease during service, provided that the rebuttable presumption provisions of 38 C.F.R. § 3.307 (d) are also satisfied. 38 U.S.C. § 1116; 38 C.F.R. § 3.309 (e). A veteran who, during active military, naval, or air service, served in the Republic of Vietnam during the period beginning on January 9, 1962, and ending on May 7, 1975, shall be presumed to have been exposed during such service to an herbicide agent, unless there is affirmative evidence to establish that the Veteran was not exposed to any such agent during that service. The last date on which such a veteran shall be presumed to have been exposed to an herbicide agent shall be the last date on which he or she served in the Republic of Vietnam during the period beginning on January 9, 1962, and ending on May 7, 1975. “Service in the Republic of Vietnam” includes service in the waters offshore and service in other locations if the conditions of service involved duty or visitation in the Republic of Vietnam. 38 C.F.R. § 3.307 (a)(6)(iii). The service personnel records indicate that the Veteran served in the Republic of Vietnam. Therefore, he is presumed to have been exposed to herbicide agents. In her February 2015 Appeal to the Board (VA Form 9), the Appellant asserts that the Veteran was diagnosed with “soft cell sarcoma/colon cancer.” Clinical documentation of the cited diagnosis is not of record. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) should obtain all relevant VA and private treatment records which could potentially be helpful in resolving the Appellant’s claims. Murphy v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 78 (1990); Bell v. Derwinski, 2 Vet. App. 611 (1992). 2. The issue of entitlement to compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for the cause of the Veteran’s death is remanded. The Appellant contends that compensation under the provisions of 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for the cause of the Veteran’s death is warranted as “the VAMC in Phila performed a colostomy – stoma;” “as the result of the stoma procedure, the site became infected resulting in sepsis which the VAMC was unable to control;” and the Veteran “died of sepsis which he developed secondary to the stoma procedure.” The Veteran’s April 2014 death certificate indicates that the immediate cause of death was “septic shock with multi organ failure due to (or as a consequence of) probable intra-abdominal sepsis” and colon cancer and atrial fibrillation were noted to be “significant conditions contributing to death, but not resulting in the underlying cause. The Veteran was reported to have died while an impatient at the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainboro. VA clinical documentation of the “colostomy – stoma” procedure performed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania VA Medical Center is not of record. Clinical documentation of the Veteran’s final treatment at University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainboro is not of record. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Ask the Appellant to complete a VA Form 21 4142 for each private healthcare provider, including the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro, who treated the Veteran for “soft cell sarcoma/colon cancer” and his final illnesses. Make two requests for the authorized records from all identified healthcare providers unless it is clear after the first request that a second request would be futile. (Continued on the next page)   2. Obtain the Veteran’s VA clinical documentation not already of record, including that provided at the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, VA Medical Center. J. T. HUTCHESON Acting Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD C. E., Associate Counsel