The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder (anxiety and depressive disorders) is granted, while service connection for arthritis of bilateral hands, right shoulder disorder, left shoulder disorder, and bilateral hearing loss are all denied. The claim for service connection for a psychiatric disorder for the purpose of establishing eligibility to treatment under 38 U.S.C. § 1702 is moot.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorders have been related to his service and have been continually present since that time, meeting the criteria for direct service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- Arthritis of bilateral hands, Right shoulder disorder, Left shoulder disorder, Bilateral hearing loss, Acquired psychiatric disorder (anxiety and depressive disorders)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- April 4, 2019
- Citation
- 19125487
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss, as there was no evidence of a current disability in the right ear and insufficient evidence to establish a nexus between the left ear hearing loss and service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter for a medical clarification regarding whether the Veteran's service-connected epilepsy has aggravated his bilateral hearing loss.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss to obtain an addendum opinion addressing the Veteran's lay statements regarding in-service acoustic trauma and a rocket blast injury.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date of May 17, 2019, for a 70 percent disability rating for PTSD but denied earlier effective dates for service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus.
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