The Veteran's appeal for service connection for bilateral hearing loss and increased rating for a lumbar spine disability has been withdrawn. The claim of an earlier effective date for the right knee disability is dismissed as it constitutes a freestanding claim. The psychiatric disability does not meet the criteria for a higher than 30 percent rating.
The deciding factor: The Veteran withdrew his appeal for service connection and increased rating, leaving only the issue of an earlier effective date for the right knee disability to be addressed.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral hearing loss, lumbar spine disability, right knee disability, psychiatric disability, pseudofolliculitis barbae (PFB)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 30%
- Decision date
- September 20, 2011
- Citation
- 1135126
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 1135126.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for service connection of bilateral hearing loss and a ruptured right ear drum was dismissed due to the death of the Veteran.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is remanded for additional development, including a new VA examination to assess his bilateral knee and hip disabilities.
- Denied
The Board found that the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss was noted upon entry into active duty service and did not increase in severity during service. Therefore, it denied his claim for service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for bilateral hearing loss, migraine headaches, and PTSD due to additional development of records and examination.
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