The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection for bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, and hypertension as there was no evidence of a nexus to his military service.
The deciding factor: The January 2006 VA examiner concluded that due to the absence of acoustic damage it was not at least as likely as not that the veteran's hearing loss or tinnitus were related to his military service. For hypertension, there was no evidence showing that it manifested in service or within one year after separation from service and was not shown to be causally or etiologically related to military service.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral hearing loss, Tinnitus, Hypertension
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 13, 2009
- Citation
- 0901274
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss, as there was no evidence of a current disability in the right ear and insufficient evidence to establish a nexus between the left ear hearing loss and service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for diabetes mellitus type II and hypertension, to include as secondary to left orchiectomy, for further development in accordance with the PACT Act.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, finding that the Veteran's conditions are related to in-service noise exposure.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter for a medical clarification regarding whether the Veteran's service-connected epilepsy has aggravated his bilateral hearing loss.
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