The Veteran's request to reopen service connection for a back disorder is denied. Service connection for residuals of traumatic brain injury is granted, but the initial rating for bilateral hearing loss remains noncompensable.
The deciding factor: New evidence does not raise a reasonable possibility of substantiating the claim for a back disorder due to lack of new and material evidence. The Veteran's current diagnosis of residuals of traumatic brain injury is related to in-service motor vehicle accidents, with a positive medical opinion supporting this finding.
- Claimed conditions
- Back Disorder, Residuals of Traumatic Brain Injury
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 0%
- Decision date
- January 10, 2019
- Citation
- 19102681
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,776 · Granted: 24% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 19102681.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to errors in obtaining medical records and for an additional medical opinion regarding the etiology of the Veteran's back disorder.
- Granted
The Veteran's hypertension is granted service connection, but his right ear hearing loss and back disorder claims are remanded for further evaluation.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for obstructive sleep apnea as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and for residuals of traumatic brain injury, finding that both conditions are related to her military service.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim of service connection for a back disorder as new and relevant evidence was not received, despite previous denials.
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