Peripheral neuropathy decisions — 2020

The Veteran's left ear hearing loss is granted as service-connected.,The Veteran's peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral lower extremities is denied as not incurred during service.

The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to insufficient evidence and further development is needed.

The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, a back disability, and neuropathy of the lower extremities due to inadequate medical opinions in the original decision. The Veteran's claims are now pending with the AOJ.

The Veteran's service connection claims for DMII and coronary artery disease due to herbicide exposure are granted.,Service connection is also granted for ED, hypertension, and peripheral neuropathy of the upper and lower extremities as secondary to service-connected DMII.

The Board has remanded several issues related to the Veteran's service connection claims due to incomplete records. The RO is instructed to attempt to obtain missing documents from the October 2017 DPRIS response and associate them with the claims file.

The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the right and left upper extremities, as well as for an acquired psychiatric disability (including PTSD). The Veteran contends that his disabilities are related to exposure to extreme cold while in Germany.

The Board denied service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the upper and lower extremities, as well as skin rash in the groin area, all claimed due to Agent Orange exposure. The Veteran's hearing loss was also denied.,Service connection was not granted for any of the conditions on appeal.

The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to insufficient medical opinions and further examination.

The Veteran's appeal for increased ratings for PTSD with memory loss, service connection for traumatic brain injury, and left and right upper extremity peripheral neuropathy has been dismissed due to the death of the appellant.

The Veteran's service connection claim for bilateral hearing loss is denied as there is no evidence of a current disability and the Board finds that his hearing loss did not begin in service.,Service connection for tinnitus has been granted. The Board found that it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran's tinnitus had its onset during service.

The Board has determined that the Veteran does not have a current diagnosis of left or right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, and therefore service connection for these conditions is denied.

The Board has dismissed the appeal as it lacks jurisdiction to review the merits of the denial of service connection for various shoulder, elbow, hip, knee, and lower extremity conditions due to the lack of proper submission under the AMA.

The Veteran's service connection claims for coronary artery disease, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, and bilateral lower extremity neuropathy are all granted due to presumed exposure to herbicides during his military service.

The Veteran's PTSD with associated cannabis use disorder is rated at 70 percent since April 17, 2017. The Veteran's peripheral neuropathy of the right leg and foot is rated at 20 percent.,The Veteran's claim for TDIU was granted effective April 17, 2017.

The Veteran's service-connected disabilities render him unable to maintain substantially gainful employment, and a TDIU rating is granted.

The Veteran's claims for higher evaluations for various service-connected disabilities, including diabetes mellitus type II and peripheral neuropathy of the lower and upper extremities, were denied. The Board found that the criteria for an evaluation higher than 20 percent for diabetes mellitus type II were not met due to lack of evidence showing regulation of activities required by the disability. For other conditions, the Board noted inconsistencies in medical opinions regarding the need for restrictions.

The Board has remanded the cases for further development and clarification of medical opinions regarding the Veteran's service-connected conditions, including coronary artery disease, coronary artery bypass graft scar residuals, right lower extremity diabetic peripheral neuropathy, and left lower extremity diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

The Board has dismissed all issues of service connection due to the Veteran's death.

The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for bilateral upper and lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, finding that there was no causal relationship between his exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune and his current conditions.

The Veteran's appeal has been dismissed for the issues of service connection for scalp condition, sleep apnea, urinary incontinence, hammer toe (right and left feet), right shoulder disability, left shoulder disability, neck disability, acquired psychiatric disability; rating for urinary incontinence, in excess of 10 percent prior to October 18, 2019 and in excess of 20 percent thereafter; earlier effective date for the grant of service connection for urinary incontinence; hammer toe (right and left feet); right shoulder disability; left shoulder disability; neck disability; acquired psychiatric disability. The Veteran's appeal has also been dismissed for issues regarding an increased rating for diabetes mellitus, bilateral lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, and earlier effective dates for those conditions.,The Veteran's migraine headache disability was granted service connection as secondary to his service-connected bilateral lower extremity peripheral neuropathy.