The Board has determined that the Veteran's chronic ear infections, which are diagnosed as otitis media, were incurred during his military service and have persisted since then. As a result, the claim for service connection is granted.
The deciding factor: The decision was based on the Veteran's credible statements regarding his history of symptoms and the medical evidence showing signs and symptoms of chronic infection both in-service and post-service, which outweighed the VA examiners' opinions that lacked probative value due to their reliance solely on the lack of treatment records without considering the Veteran's lay statements.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic otitis media
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 19, 2018
- Citation
- 18143400
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 18143400.
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
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