Camp Lejeune VA claims: which conditions the Board grants, on and off the presumptive list

Who the presumption covers

From August 1953 to December 1987, the water at Camp Lejeune was contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE), perchloroethylene (PCE), benzene and vinyl chloride. Under 38 CFR 3.307(a)(7), VA presumes a veteran was exposed if they served at least thirty days, in total, at Camp Lejeune or Marine Corps Air Station New River during that period. The service has to be shown by military orders or other official service records.

For those veterans, 38 CFR 3.309(f) lists eight conditions that are service connected without a medical opinion: kidney cancer, liver cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, adult leukemia, multiple myeloma, Parkinson's disease, aplastic anemia and other myelodysplastic syndromes, and bladder cancer. The condition can appear at any time after service.

How the Board ruled, condition by condition

The chart covers 7,677 Board decisions that name Camp Lejeune. Kidney, bladder and prostate cancer share one diagnostic code, as do liver and colon cancer, so they are told apart by how each claim was worded.

Bar: share granted for Camp Lejeune veterans

Red mark: all veterans with the same condition

On the Camp Lejeune list, 38 CFR 3.309(f)

• Kidney cancer DC 7528

  41.2% · 21 of 51

  all veterans 26.8%Presumed by law

• Bladder cancer DC 7528

  33.3% · 31 of 93

  all veterans 40.4%Presumed by law

• Liver cancer DC 7343

  26.4% · 24 of 91

  all veterans 20.9%Presumed by law

• Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma DC 7715

  31.7% · 13 of 41

  all veterans 29.7%Presumed by law

• Adult leukemia DC 7703

  24.4% · 10 of 41

  all veterans 32.9%Presumed by law

• Multiple myeloma DC 7712

  22.4% · 11 of 49

  all veterans 31.0%Presumed by law

• Parkinson's disease DC 8004

  45.1% · 51 of 113

  all veterans 35.5%Presumed by law

• Aplastic anemia and myelodysplastic syndromes DC 7716 / 7725

  22.7% · 17 of 75

  all veterans 33.5%Presumed by law

Not on the list, but claimed more often by Camp Lejeune veterans

These need a medical opinion linking the condition to service.

• Prostate cancer DC 7528

  24.2% · 107 of 443

  all veterans 31.5%

• Colon or rectal cancer DC 7343

  22.4% · 37 of 165

  all veterans 19.3%

• Lung and other respiratory cancers DC 6819

  16.7% · 25 of 150

  all veterans 20.3%

• Skin cancer (not melanoma) DC 7818

  10.1% · 23 of 228

  all veterans 19.2%

• Chronic kidney disease DC 7502

  26.3% · 56 of 213

  all veterans 24.2%

• Cirrhosis of the liver DC 7312

  11.9% · 24 of 201

  all veterans 16.3%

• Chronic liver disease DC 7345

  14.9% · 21 of 141

  all veterans 13.4%

• Polycythemia vera DC 7704

  38.1% · 8 of 21

  all veterans 26.6%Good lead

• Multiple sclerosis DC 8018

  26.8% · 11 of 41

  all veterans 25.4%

• Neurocognitive disorder DC 9310

  23.5% · 16 of 68

  all veterans 19.4%

One count per veteran per condition; a remand counts as not granted. Conditions with at least 20 veterans.

On the list, and still often denied

Across the eight presumed conditions, the Board granted 32.1% of claims from Camp Lejeune veterans (554 veterans), about the same as the 33.5% it granted all veterans with the same conditions. The presumption did not lift these claims above average. Kidney cancer (21 of 51) and Parkinson's disease (51 of 113) did better than average. Bladder cancer, leukemia, multiple myeloma and aplastic anemia did worse.

A presumption settles the link between the water and the disease. It does not prove the other two things a claim needs. When the Board denied a listed condition, its note on what was missing named the diagnosis in 34.0% of 144 denials: no confirmed Parkinson's disease, or a bladder growth that was not cancer. Others turned on proof of service at the base during the period.

Off the list: prostate cancer and others

Prostate cancer was the most claimed cancer, from 443 veterans, and the Board granted 24.2%. It is on the Agent Orange list but not on the Camp Lejeune list. Leaving out the 65 veterans whose decision also shows Agent Orange service, the share was 26.5%.

Without a presumption, each claim rests on a medical opinion. In the recent grants, a private opinion linking the cancer to the water outweighed a VA opinion that found no link. In the denials, the Board found the VA opinion, often pointing to age, more convincing.

Chronic kidney disease (56 of 213), colon or rectal cancer (37 of 165) and lung cancer (25 of 150) follow the same pattern. Polycythemia vera, a blood disorder, is the one condition off the list that our lead tables flag: it comes up more often for Camp Lejeune veterans and was granted more often than usual (8 of 21), though on few claims.

Read the decisions

Recent decisions, with the Board's reasoning as summarized by AI:

• A25110712, December 2025: Parkinson's disease granted on the presumption, with the exposure presumed and a current diagnosis.
• A25096671, November 2025: kidney cancer granted, with private medical opinions outweighing VA's.
• A25105794, December 2025: Parkinson's disease denied; the record showed no current diagnosis.
• A25106922, December 2025: prostate cancer granted on a private opinion linking it to the water, found more probative than VA's negative opinion.
• A25108198, December 2025: prostate cancer denied; the evidence did not link it to the water.

What the data cannot tell you

The Camp Lejeune group comes from the places each decision names. A mention is not proof of thirty days at the base during the contamination period, and decisions that name only Marine Corps Air Station New River are not included. These are historical outcomes, not predictions.

For representatives

• Prove the service first: orders or other official records showing at least thirty days at Camp Lejeune or New River between August 1953 and December 1987.
• For a listed condition, make sure the diagnosis is the listed one: Parkinson's disease rather than a tremor, bladder cancer rather than a benign growth.
• For prostate cancer and other conditions off the list, the claim is a medical opinion. Ask for one that addresses the specific chemicals and answers the VA examiner's reasons.