The petition to reopen the claim of service connection for bilateral pes planus is granted.,Entitlement to service connection for right ear hearing loss is denied.,Entitlement to a compensable evaluation for left ear hearing loss is denied.,Entitlement to a disability rating in excess of 10 percent for fatty liver disease is denied.,Entitlement to an effective date prior to September 17, 2013, for the award of service connection for left ear hearing loss is denied.,Entitlement to an effective date prior to September 17, 2013, for the award of service connection for fatty liver disease is denied.
The deciding factor: New and material evidence regarding the Veteran’s pes planus condition has been received since the March 2010 decision. The VA examinations from July 2014 and February 2016 provide further information regarding the Veteran's condition, raising a reasonable possibility of substantiating the claim.,The record does not show that the Veteran has a hearing loss disability in his right ear as defined by VA regulations (38 C.F.R. § 3.385).,During the appeal period, only two examinations were conducted and only one meets the criteria for an evaluation with testing of both puretone audiometric thresholds and Maryland CNC speech recognition scores.,The Veteran’s fatty liver disease is rated by analogy under the diagnostic code for chronic liver disease (38 C.F.R. § 4.114, Diagnostic Code 7399-7345).,Veterans receive a non-compensable rating when their conditions are nonsymptomatic.,The Veteran’s fatty liver disease is rated as non-compensable due to the absence of symptoms such as fatigue, malaise, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, arthralgia, and right upper quadrant pain.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral pes planus, right ear hearing loss, left ear hearing loss, fatty liver disease
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 9, 2018
- Citation
- 18140888
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 18140888.
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 withdrew the appeals for service connection for bilateral pes planus, obstructive sleep apnea, bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 20 percent disability rating for left and right lower extremity radiculopathy from April 3, 2023 onward, but denied higher ratings prior to that date. Service connection was also granted for alcohol use disorder as secondary to PTSD with traumatic brain injury.
- Dismissed
The appeal for a compensable rating for left ear hearing loss, service connection for right ear hearing loss, and bilateral vision condition was dismissed. Service connection for hypertension, congestive heart failure, and coronary artery disease was denied.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for multiple conditions, including an acquired psychiatric disorder, sleep apnea, hypertension, and various musculoskeletal and skin disabilities.
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