Citation Nr: 22018018
Decision Date: 03/27/22	Archive Date: 03/27/22

DOCKET NO. 19-08 952A
DATE: March 27, 2022

ORDER

Entitlement to service connection for prostate cancer with internal bleeding is granted.

Entitlement to service connection for bladder cancer with internal bleeding is granted.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. The Veteran's prostate cancer is presumptively related to his conceded Agent Orange exposure.

2. The Veteran's bladder cancer is presumptively related to his conceded Agent Orange exposure.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

1. The criteria for establishing entitlement to service connection for prostate cancer due to in-service herbicide exposure have been met.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1116, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309.

2. The criteria for establishing entitlement to service connection for bladder cancer due to in-service herbicide exposure have been met.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1116, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309.

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

The Veteran served on active duty in the U.S. Navy from May 1960 to July 1963.

These matters originally came before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from an April 2017 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). 

Prior to his death, the Veteran perfected an appeal for all the issues indicated above.  The Veteran died in January 2021.  In July 2021, the Regional Office (RO) found the Appellant in this case to be a properly substituted claimant as the Veteran's surviving spouse.   

In a March 2022 correspondence, the Veteran's spouse withdrew the hearing request.  Thus, the Appellant's hearing request is deemed withdrawn and the Board may proceed with appellate review.  38 C.F.R. § 20.704 (e).

Service Connection

1. Entitlement to service connection for prostate cancer with internal bleeding is granted.

2. Entitlement to service connection for bladder cancer with internal bleeding is granted.

Establishing service connection generally requires evidence of (1) a current disability; (2) an in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a nexus between the claimed in-service disease or injury and the present disability.  See Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163 (Fed. Cir. 2004).

Service connection may be granted for any disease initially diagnosed after service, when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disease was incurred in service.  38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (d).

Presumptive service connection on the basis of herbicide exposure is authorized for specified diseases.  38 U.S.C. § 1116; 38 C.F.R. § 3.309.  Prostate cancer is among the diseases specified.  In January 2021, bladder cancer was also added to the list of presumptive diseases.  38 U.S.C. § 1116 (a)(2)(J).  

The Appellant seeks service connection for the Veteran's prostate cancer and bladder cancer, which he had contended was caused by his in-service exposure to the herbicide agents, including Agent Orange.

The medical evidence confirms the Veteran had had a diagnosis of prostate cancer and bladder cancer, and that both had manifested to a compensable degree.  Specifically, the Board notes August 2016 private treatment records from Crossroads Urology diagnosed the Veteran with malignant neoplasm of the prostate and malignant neoplasm of the bladder.  Treatment records noted a prostatectomy in the Veteran's surgical history and documented that he was undergoing treatment for reoccurrence of the bladder cancer.  As noted above, these conditions shall be presumed to have been caused by service if a Veteran was exposed to herbicides.  The Veteran's Agent Orange exposure was conceded by the RO in a July 2021 VA memorandum.  Therefore, the Veteran's claims for service-connection for prostate cancer and bladder cancer with internal bleeding must be granted.

In sum, the evidence of record demonstrates the Veteran had conceded in-service herbicide exposure and was diagnosed with prostate cancer and bladder cancer that manifested to a compensable degree following his discharge from service. 

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Therefore, service connection is warranted for the Veteran's claimed prostate and bladder disabilities.

 

 

H.M. WALKER

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	AK

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.