The Veteran's lumbar spinal stenosis was not incurred in or related to his service.,Bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus are likely due to acoustic trauma during service in Vietnam.,Tinnitus is less likely than not related to the Veteran’s service, as there were no threshold shifts noted.,The phantom pain from amputated left fingers may be aggravated by diabetes mellitus type II.,Peripheral neuropathy of the right upper extremity and left upper extremity are secondary to diabetes mellitus type II.,Peripheral neuropathy of the right lower extremity and left lower extremity are secondary to diabetes mellitus type II.,The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder (major depressive disorder and polysubstance dependence) is not related to service, as he does not have a diagnosis of PTSD.,A rating in excess of 20 percent for diabetes mellitus type II requires further examination.,Residuals of prostate cancer require an evaluation from February 1, 2018.

The deciding factor: The Veteran's lumbar spinal stenosis was not incurred during service and there is no evidence linking it to his service.,There was no significant threshold shift in hearing loss during service, but the Veteran experienced acoustic trauma in Vietnam. The VA examiner’s opinion lacks a meaningful rationale.,Tinnitus was not related to service due to lack of threshold shifts noted during service.,The phantom pain from amputated left fingers may be aggravated by diabetes mellitus type II as there is no evidence of worsening after diagnosis.,Peripheral neuropathy of the right upper extremity and left upper extremity are secondary to diabetes mellitus type II, as they were not present prior to its diagnosis.,Peripheral neuropathy of the right lower extremity and left lower extremity are also secondary to diabetes mellitus type II, as they were not present prior to its diagnosis.,The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder (major depressive disorder and polysubstance dependence) is not related to service due to lack of a PTSD diagnosis.,A rating in excess of 20 percent for diabetes mellitus type II requires further examination as the VA examiner did not consider the current severity of the disability.,Residuals of prostate cancer require an evaluation from February 1, 2018.

Claimed conditions

lumbar spinal stenosis, bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, phantom pain related to amputated left fingers, peripheral neuropathy of the right upper extremity, peripheral neuropathy of the left upper extremity, peripheral neuropathy of the right lower extremity, peripheral neuropathy of the left lower extremity, acquired psychiatric disorder (major depressive disorder and polysubstance dependence)

How they argued it

Not specified

Exposure basis

None

Rating assigned

None in this decision

Decision date

February 14, 2019

Citation

19111949

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 19111949.