The veteran's claim to reopen his previously denied service connection for a ruptured right eardrum is being remanded due to the need for compliance with the notice provisions of the Veteran's Claims Assistance Act of 2000 (VCAA).
The deciding factor: The RO failed to provide proper VCAA notification, including informing the veteran about what evidence would be necessary to reopen his claim and establish service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- ruptured right eardrum
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 24, 2006
- Citation
- 0615170
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,013 · 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 0615170.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for ruptured right eardrum has been granted. The claims for service connection for headaches and allergic rhinitis are remanded.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim of service connection for lumbar spine disability, IBS, and ruptured right eardrum has been granted. Service connection is established for the lumbar spine disability on a secondary basis to his service-connected right knee disability. The rating assigned for IBS is 30 percent. The appeal regarding the ruptured right eardrum remains pending.
- Granted
The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss is found to be etiologically related to in-service acoustic trauma. The issues of service connection for ruptured left and right eardrums are dismissed as the Veteran withdrew his appeal.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected ruptured right eardrum disability is evaluated at the maximum noncompensable (0 percent) rating under Diagnostic Code 6211. The Board finds that a compensable rating is not warranted for this disability.
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