Rye v. Principi

When the Board of Veterans' Appeals decided that a veteran’s cancer of the base of the tongue did not entitle him to service-related benefits, because it was not one of the statutorily enumerated cancers presumed to be related to exposure to Agent Orange, we appealed the decision on the basis that his cancer was of the same type as other respiratory cancers encompassed by the presumption. Our client, who served in Vietnam from 1968 through 1969, and is disabled, was finally awarded benefits in a decision dated February 26, 2003, five years after his diagnosis.

The Veterans Education and Benefits Expansion Act of 2001, 38 U.S.C. sec. 1116, provides that all Vietnam Veterans are presumed to have been exposed to Agent Orange. The statute and associated regulations lay out the procedure allowing veterans to claim benefits for herbicide-related cancers, and for appealing adverse decisions of the Board.