The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for left knee disability, bilateral hearing loss, and tinnitus due to insufficient evidence in the record. The VA is required to obtain private treatment records from the Center for Primary Care in Augusta, Georgia, associated with the Veteran's 2005 left knee arthroplasty surgery. A VA examination must be conducted to determine if the Veteran’s current left knee disability was proximately due to or aggravated by his service-connected right knee disability and whether his hearing loss and tinnitus are related to his in-service acoustic trauma.
The deciding factor: The Board found that there is insufficient evidence in the record to decide the claims, including private treatment records from the Veteran's 2005 left knee arthroplasty surgery and VA examinations for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus. The VA has a duty to assist the Veteran by obtaining these records and conducting further evaluations.
- Claimed conditions
- left knee disability, bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 19, 2019
- Citation
- 19164140
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,858 · Granted: 24% (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 19164140.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is remanded for additional development, including a new VA examination to assess his bilateral knee and hip disabilities.
- 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 service connection for hearing loss, tinnitus, and an acquired psychiatric disorder due to incomplete medical records and need for further examination.
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