The Board has not decided the service connection claims for right and left knee disorders, but has reopened the claim of tinnitus. The Veteran's tinnitus is found to be related to in-service noise exposure.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not relate the Veteran’s tinnitus to noise exposure during service, but the opinion was based on a lack of documented complaints of tinnitus during service. As the Veteran is competent to report symptoms of tinnitus, reasonable doubt is resolved in his favor.
- Claimed conditions
- Right Knee Disorder, Left Knee Disorder, Tinnitus
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 25, 2019
- Citation
- 19181444
What this means for you
A partial grant means some issues were granted while others were denied or remanded — common in multi-issue claims. Look at which issues went which way, and how each was argued.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, finding that the Veteran's conditions are related to in-service noise exposure.
- 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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted readjudication of previously denied claims for service connection for PTSD and COPD, while remanding other issues including entitlement to service connection for an eye disorder, hypertension, tinnitus, a compensable rating for bilateral hearing loss, TDIU, and an initial rating for PTSD.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the Veteran's appeals for service connection for bilateral hearing loss disability and tinnitus due to a lack of jurisdiction.
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