The Board found no evidence of left ear problems during service and concluded that the current left otitis media with mastoiditis and cholesteatoma is not related to service.
The deciding factor: There was no medical evidence showing a nexus between the current disability and disease or injury in service.
- Claimed conditions
- left otitis media, mastoiditis, cholesteatoma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 11, 2003
- Citation
- 0302645
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,699 · Granted: 17% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0302645.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has granted service connection for obstructive sleep apnea but has remanded the issue of service connection for cholesteatoma due to a duty-to-assist error.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims of service connection for cholesteatoma and an acquired psychiatric disorder to include PTSD due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error in failing to provide VA examinations. The Veteran is entitled to a VA examination for both claims.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's TDIU claim is granted from May 25, 2010. The case is remanded for additional development regarding the compensable rating for bilateral cholesteatoma.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted special monthly compensation (SMC) at the intermediate rate between the (m) and (n) rates based on his service-connected conditions.
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