Citation Nr: 21073867 Decision Date: 12/10/21 Archive Date: 12/10/21 DOCKET NO. 16-35 124 DATE: December 10, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for cause of the Veteran's death is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty in United States Navy from September 1976 to September 1980. The Veteran died in July 2015 and the appellant is his widow. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a September 2015 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The appellant was scheduled for a virtual hearing in October 2021. A notice of the hearing was sent in September 2021. The appellant did not appear for this scheduled hearing, has not offered good cause for her failure to appear and has not requested that the hearing be rescheduled. Therefore, her hearing request is considered withdrawn. 38 C.F.R. § 20.704(d). The appellant contends that the Veteran's esophageal cancer with brain and stomach metastasis was due to his asbestos exposure while in service. The RO conceded in the September 2015 rating decision that the Veteran's service personnel records show that it is highly probable that the Veteran's military occupational specialties of fireman and engineman exposed him to asbestos. The Veteran's death certificate shows he died in July 2015 as a result of gastroesophageal cancer. The Board notes that a VA examination for the Veteran's esophageal cancer had not been obtained to determine its etiology and there are no private treatment records that address the etiology of the Veteran's esophageal cancer. Therefore, the Board finds that the evidence of record is sufficient to trigger the VA's duty to provide the appellant with an adequate VA medical opinion that analyzes the etiology of the Veteran's esophageal cancer. DelaRosa v. Peake, 515 F.3d 1319, 1322 (Fed. Cir. 2008). This matter is REMANDED for the following action: Afford the appellant an appropriate VA opinion to ascertain the nature and etiology of the Veteran's claimed esophageal cancer. All pertinent evidence of record must be made available to and reviewed by the examiner. The examiner must provide an opinion regarding the following questions: Is it at least as likely as not (50 percent or greater probability) that the esophageal cancer had its onset during service, or is otherwise related to service, to include exposure to asbestos? Ensure that any medical opinion obtained includes a complete rationale for the conclusions reached. Any medical opinion must support the conclusions reached with an analysis that is adequate for the Board to consider and weigh against other evidence of record; any medical opinion must contain not only clear conclusions with supporting data, but also a reasoned medical explanation connecting the two. If an opinion cannot be expressed without resort to speculation, ensure that the clinician so indicates and discusses why an opinion is not possible, to include whether there is additional evidence that could enable an opinion to be provided, or whether the inability to provide the opinion is based on the limits of medical knowledge. See Jones v. Shinseki, 23 Vet. App. 382 (2010). The examiner is reminded that the term "as likely as not" does not mean "within the realm of medical possibility," but rather that the evidence of record is so evenly divided that, in the examiner's expert opinion, it is as medically sound to find in favor of the proposition as against it. KRISTY L. ZADORA Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board B. Adeyemi, 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.