Citation Nr: 21065600 Decision Date: 10/26/21 Archive Date: 10/26/21 DOCKET NO. 17-11 413 DATE: October 26, 2021 ORDER The claim of entitlement to service connection for bladder cancer is granted. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The Veteran was present within the land borders of the Republic of Vietnam during active duty service. 2. The medical evidence of record shows that the Veteran has a current diagnosis of bladder cancer. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for establishing entitlement to service connection for bladder cancer have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.307, 3.309. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had honorable active service with the United States Army from January 1970 to December 1971. The Board recognizes that the Veteran requested a Board hearing by way of his substantive appeal. The Veteran's Board hearing was scheduled for January 22, 2020. In January 2020, the Veteran informed the VA that he no longer desired a Board hearing; thus, the Board deems the hearing request withdrawn. Service connection for bladder cancer. Service connection is granted for disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active duty. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Service connection may be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge, when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disability was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (d). Generally, in order to prove service connection, there must be competent, credible evidence of (1) a current disability, (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of an injury or disease, and (3) a nexus, or link, between the current disability and the in-service disease or injury. See, e.g., Davidson v. Shinseki, 581 F.3d 1313 (Fed. Cir. 2009); Pond v. West, 12 Vet. App. 341 (1999). Veterans who served in the Republic of Vietnam between January 9, 1962, and May 7, 1975, shall be presumed to have been exposed to an herbicide agent, unless there is affirmative evidence to establish that the veteran was not exposed to any such agent during that service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.307 (a)(6). If a veteran was exposed to an herbicide agent during active military, naval, or air service, the diseases listed under 38 C.F.R. § 3.309 (e) shall be service-connected 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 further that the rebuttable presumption provisions of 38 C.F.R. § 3.307 (d) are also satisfied. The list of diseases associated with exposure to certain herbicide agents is as follows: AL amyloidosis; chloracne or other acneform disease consistent with chloracne; Type 2 diabetes (also known as Type II diabetes mellitus or adult-onset diabetes); Hodgkin's disease; ischemic heart disease; all chronic B-cell leukemias; multiple myeloma; non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; Parkinson's disease; early-onset peripheral neuropathy; porphyria cutanea tarda; prostate cancer; respiratory cancers (cancer of the lung, bronchus, larynx, or trachea); and soft-tissue sarcoma (other than osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi's sarcoma, or mesothelioma). 38 C.F.R. § 3.309 (e). For early-onset peripheral neuropathy, the presumptive service connection is warranted if the disorder manifested to a degree of 10 percent or more within one year after the Veteran's last exposure to herbicide agents. 38 C.F.R. § 3.307 (a)(6)(ii). The list of diseases associated with exposure to certain herbicide agents now includes bladder cancer, parkinsonism, and hypothyroidism, which were added during the pendency of the appeal. 38 U.S.C. § 1116 (a)(2). The Veteran's personnel records show that he served in the Republic of Vietnam from July 1970 to June 1971. The medical evidence of record documents the Veteran's treatment for bladder cancer. A May 2013 VA treatment record noted that the Veteran underwent surgery for bladder cancer in April 2013. Accordingly, presumptive service connection is warranted for bladder cancer. See 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309; Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49 (1990). B. MULLINS Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board A. McKinley, 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.