The Veteran's tinnitus claim has been granted. The bilateral hearing loss disability and acquired psychiatric disorder (including PTSD) claims have been remanded for further evaluation.,Service connection is denied for the gastrointestinal, hypertension, erectile dysfunction, and sleep apnea conditions as they are inextricably intertwined with the acquired psychiatric disorder (including PTSD) claim.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's tinnitus was found to be related to service due to noise exposure. The hearing loss disability and PTSD claims require further evaluation as there is no evidence of a current diagnosis.,Service connection for gastrointestinal, hypertension, erectile dysfunction, and sleep apnea conditions cannot be established without resolving the acquired psychiatric disorder (including PTSD) claim.
- Claimed conditions
- tinnitus, bilateral hearing loss disability, acquired psychiatric disorder (including PTSD), gastrointestinal disability, hypertension, erectile dysfunction, sleep apnea
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 22, 2019
- Citation
- 19179771
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,680 · 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 19179771.
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 Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for diabetes mellitus type II with erectile dysfunction was denied as the evidence did not show that he had been diagnosed and manifested to at least a 10 percent disability rating on or prior to May 8, 2001.
- 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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for tinnitus, arthritis, and memory loss. The decision found no evidence linking these conditions to his military service.
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