The Veteran's claims for effective dates prior to December 8, 2004 and May 3, 2017 are being remanded as the RO/AMC needs to issue a Statement of the Case on these issues.
The deciding factor: The Board found that no earlier document can be construed as an informal claim for bilateral hearing loss prior to December 8, 2004 and thus denied the Veteran's request for an effective date prior to this date. For the anxiety disorder claim, the Board noted that a Statement of the Case must be issued before proceeding with appellate review.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral hearing loss, Unspecified anxiety disorder and uncomplicated bereavement
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 2, 2018
- Citation
- 18140036
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 18140036.
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for depressive disorder as secondary to hypertension and tinnitus, but denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and an increased rating for hypertension.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, but remanded the claim for degenerative disc disease with degenerative arthritis.
- Partly granted
The Board denied an increased rating for PTSD with alcohol use disorder and discectomy with lumbar discogenic pain but granted a 20% initial rating for left lower extremity radiculopathy from April 18, 2023 through January 16, 2024. The service connection was denied for bilateral hearing loss but granted for left knee Degenerative Joint Disease (DJD).
- 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.
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