Citation Nr: 20007071
Decision Date: 01/28/20	Archive Date: 01/28/20

DOCKET NO. 15-11 488
DATE: January 28, 2020

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Marine Corps from October 1965 to April 1966, and April 1967 to June 1970, including in the Republic of Vietnam.  He was awarded the Vietnam Service Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, and the Combat Action Ribbon, among other honors.  He passed away in February 2009.  The appellant is his surviving spouse.  The Board thanks the Veteran’s family for his honorable service to the United States during wartime.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal of a rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

The Board previously denied the claim at issue in a December 2018 decision.  The appellant appealed the decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court).  In September 2019, the Court granted a Joint Motion for Remand (JMR) in which the parties agreed that the Board had erred by failing to obtain an adequate medical opinion in August 2018 as it provided a conclusory opinion that “Agent orange/herbicide exposure in Vietnam might be related to many medical conditions and some cancer, but pancreatic cancer is not one of them.”  Accordingly, a remand is necessary to procure an adequate medical opinion.  

The matter is REMANDED for the following action:

 Please obtain a VA medical opinion which addresses the cause of the Veteran’s death with respect to whether it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran’s pancreatic cancer was related to his presumed agent orange/herbicide exposure in Vietnam.  The claims file should be forwarded to the clinician for review.  The clinician is asked to opine on the following:

Is it at least as likely as not (50% or better probability) that the Veteran’s diagnosed pancreatic cancer was related to presumed exposure to herbicide agents in service? A complete rationale should be provided for the opinion, meaning that the provider should cite to medical authority and/or address how the Veteran’s medical history supports the conclusion. The clinician can discuss why cited studies are persuasive or unpersuasive and/or whether the Veteran had other risk factors for developing pancreatic cancer and/or whether pancreatic cancer manifested in an unusual manner. The examiner is encouraged to provide citations to medical literature and/or scientific evidence to support his or her opinion.  The examiner is advised that the absence of pancreatic cancer from the list of conditions which are presumed to be the 

 

result of exposure to herbicides in Vietnam is not, by itself, a sufficient explanation for a negative opinion.

 

 

M. C. GRAHAM

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	D. Reed, Associate Counsel

The Board’s decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential, and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.