Citation Nr: 21013817
Decision Date: 03/10/21	Archive Date: 03/10/21

DOCKET NO. 20-15 260
DATE: March 10, 2021

ORDER

Service connection for bladder cancer is granted.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. The evidence of record establishes that the Veteran was presumptively exposed to herbicides during his active service.

2.  The Veteran’s diagnosed bladder cancer is presumed to have been caused by his herbicide agent exposure in service.

CONCLUSION OF LAW

The criteria for service connection for bladder cancer have been met.  38 U.S.C. § 1110, 1116(a)(2); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309.

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran had active service from December 1968 to October 1970, to include service in the Republic of Vietnam.

Service Connection

In order to establish entitlement to service connection, there must be (1) medical evidence of a current disability; (2) medical, or in certain circumstances, lay evidence of in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal connection between the claimed in-service disease of injury and the current disability.  Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163 (Fed. Cir. 2004).

Service connection may be granted on a presumptive basis for certain diseases associated with exposure to certain herbicide agents, even though there is no record of such disease during service, if they manifest to a compensable degree any time after service, in a veteran who had active military, naval, or air service for at least 90 days, during the period beginning on January 9, 1962 and ending on May 7, 1975, in the Republic of Vietnam, including the waters offshore, and other locations if the conditions of service involved duty or visitation in Vietnam.  38 U.S.C. § 1116; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309(e), 3.313.  This presumption may be rebutted by affirmative evidence to the contrary.  38 U.S.C. § 1113; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309. 

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 amended 38 U.S.C. § 1116(a)(2) to include bladder cancer as a disease subject to presumptive service connection on the basis of exposure to herbicides.

The Veteran’s service records show that he had service in the Republic of Vietnam from October 1969 to October 1970.  As such, the Veteran is presumed to have been exposed to herbicide agents.

The Veteran’s medical records show that he was diagnosed with bladder cancer in October 2018.

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As noted, when a veteran is diagnosed with bladder cancer and is presumed to have been exposed to herbicide agents during service, service connection will be granted unless there is clear evidence to the contrary, which is not present here.

Accordingly, the Veteran’s service connection claims for bladder cancer is granted.

 

 

Thomas H. O'Shay

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	T. Berryman, 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.