The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss is granted as service-connected.,The Veteran's right knee arthritis is granted as service-connected.,The Veteran's left foot disability, including arthritis with bunions and hammer toes, is granted as service-connected.
The deciding factor: The evidence supports a finding that the Veteran's current disabilities are related to his military service, either due to noise exposure or pre-existing conditions aggravated by service. The Board found the VA examiner's opinions regarding lack of nexus for these conditions to be of low probative value and did not find clear and unmistakable evidence to rebut the presumption of aggravation in the case of the left foot disability.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral Hearing Loss, Right Knee Degenerative Arthritis (DJD), Left Foot Disability, including arthritis with bunions and hammer toes
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 22, 2019
- Citation
- 19121565
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,316 · Granted: 43% (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 19121565.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss is granted as service-connected. The claims for alcohol abuse and psychiatric disorder are remanded for additional development, including a VA examination to determine the nature and etiology of these conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to a need for a new VA examination to assess the current severity of the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss. The issue remains under direct service connection theory.
- Denied
The Veteran's hearing loss was rated at 30 percent, the highest non-compensable rating available. The Board found that his hearing loss did not warrant a higher rating based on VA examinations and medical records.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss, finding that there was no evidence of a nexus between his current hearing loss and his active service. The Board noted that while he had complaints of earaches in service, these did not indicate a current disability.
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