The Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss is denied as he does not have a current diagnosis of hearing loss for VA purposes.,Service connection for gastritis, claimed as gastrointestinal problems, and colitis to include celiac disease are remanded due to the need for additional development including obtaining missing private medical records and a new VA examination.,The Veteran's claim for service connection for a sleep disorder is denied as there is no competent evidence linking his current symptoms to service.
The deciding factor: The Veteran does not have a current diagnosis of bilateral hearing loss for VA purposes, which is required for service connection. The July 2016 examination did not show that the Veteran's hearing loss has resulted in one threshold at 40 decibels or greater, in three thresholds at 26 or greater, or in speech discrimination scores lower than 94 percent in either ear.,The Veteran does not have a current diagnosis of gastritis and colitis. The VA medical examination is inconsistent as it notes that the Veteran has been diagnosed with colitis, celiac and gastritis, however attributes all of the gastrointestinal symptoms to the Veteran's celiac disorder. Therefore, additional development including obtaining missing private medical records and a new VA examination is needed.,The Veteran does not have a current diagnosis of a sleep disorder. The service treatment records are completely negative for any findings, complaints, or treatment referable to a sleep disorder. Moreover, the Veteran denied frequent trouble sleeping in reports of medical history.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral hearing loss, gastritis, colitis (including celiac disease), sleep disorder
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 24, 2019
- Citation
- 19140157
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,500 · Granted: 29% (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 19140157.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for service connection of bilateral hearing loss and a ruptured right ear drum was dismissed due to the death of the Veteran.
- Denied
The Board found that the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss was noted upon entry into active duty service and did not increase in severity during service. Therefore, it denied his claim for service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for bilateral hearing loss, migraine headaches, and PTSD due to additional development of records and examination.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to unclear evidence regarding the diagnosis of gastritis and its relation to service. The Veteran needs to provide records, and a VA examiner will review his medical history and determine if gastritis is related to his military service or any other conditions.
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