Citation Nr: 21001052
Decision Date: 01/06/21	Archive Date: 01/06/21

DOCKET NO. 20-14 667
DATE: January 6, 2021

ORDER

Entitlement to service connection for bladder cancer, to include as due to exposure to herbicide agents, is granted.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1.  The Veteran is presumed to have been exposed to herbicide agents, such as Agent Orange, during his active duty service.

2.  The Veteran has a current diagnosis of bladder cancer.

CONCLUSION OF LAW

The criteria for entitlement to service connection for bladder cancer due to exposure to herbicide agents are met.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1113, 1116, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.307, 3.309.

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran served on active duty from September 1965 to July 1967. 

This case is before the Board of Veterans Appeals (Board) on appeal from a September 2018 rating decision by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).   

In November 2020, a virtual hearing was conducted before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge.

Entitlement to service connection for bladder cancer, to include as due to exposure to herbicide agents

The Veteran contends that his bladder cancer is the result of exposure to herbicide agents while serving on active duty in Vietnam.  See November 2020 Board Hearing Transcript and November 2018 notice of disagreement.

The record reflects that the Veteran is currently diagnosed with bladder cancer.  See Milwaukee VA medical center treatment records dated in 2017 through 2018.

For veterans presumed to have been exposed to herbicides, certain enumerated diseases shall be service connected even though there is no record of such disease during service, so long as the requirements of 38 U.S.C. § 1116 and 38 C.F.R. § 3.307(a)(6)(iii) are met, and the rebuttable presumption provisions of 38 U.S.C. § 1113 and 38 C.F.R. § 3.307(d) are also satisfied.  38 C.F.R. § 3.309(e).

In this case, although the Veteran’s service personnel records are not associated with the claims file, his DD Form 214 indicates that he was assigned to the United States Army 74th Supply Company, designated as a unit directly attached to the United States Army Vietnam (USARV).  Further, although not definitive regarding service in Vietnam, the Veteran received the Vietnam Service Medal and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.  Therefore, because the Veteran was in a unit attached to USARV, the Board finds that he has verified service in the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam Era, and as such, he is presumed to have been exposed to herbicide agents, such as Agent Orange, during that time.  See 38 C.F.R. § 3.307(a)(6)(iii).

Further, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 recently amended 38 U.S.C. § 1116(a)(2) to include bladder cancer on VA’s list of diseases presumptively associated with exposure to herbicide agents.  

Therefore, since exposure to herbicide agents has been conceded and the Veteran has a current diagnosis of bladder cancer which is now an enumerated disease entitled to presumptive service connection based on herbicide agent exposure, the Board finds that service connection for bladder cancer is warranted. 

 

Jennifer White

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	Alison M. Mecone, 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.