The Board has determined that the Veteran's right ear hearing loss disability is of service origin and grants entitlement to service connection for this condition. The remaining issues are remanded due to inadequate medical opinions in previous examinations.
The deciding factor: Previous VA examiners failed to consider the Veteran’s credible reports of in-service onset of symptoms, including his self-reported history of tinnitus and hearing loss during service.
- Claimed conditions
- Right Ear Hearing Loss, Strain - Right Wrist, Lumbar Spine Condition, Left Hip Condition (Secondary to Lumbar Spine Condition), Right Hip Condition (Secondary to Lumbar Spine Condition), Right Lower Extremity Neuropathy, Right Shoulder Disability, Asthma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 12, 2019
- Citation
- 19154052
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,893 · Granted: 31% (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 19154052.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The claims for service connection for right and left shoulder disabilities are remanded. The claim for sleep disorder (claimed as sleep apnea) remains denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for right and left shoulder disabilities, finding insufficient evidence to establish an in-service event or injury related to his shoulders. The Veteran's current shoulder conditions are not linked to his military service.
- Denied
The Veteran's asthma is currently rated as 10 percent disabling, and the Board finds that this rating adequately compensates his service-connected condition.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's asthma is currently rated at 30 percent, and the Board finds that a higher rating is not warranted.,The Veteran's sleep apnea claim has been remanded due to duty-to-assist errors.
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