The Veteran's petition to reopen his claim of entitlement to service connection for hearing loss is dismissed. His petition to reopen his claim of entitlement to service connection for the residuals of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) is granted, and he is granted service connection for TBI. Service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder is denied due to willful misconduct.
The deciding factor: The Veteran withdrew his appeal regarding hearing loss in November 2018. The August 2012 VA examination indicated that the Veteran has residuals of a TBI, which relates to an unsubstantiated fact and raises the reasonable possibility that he may prevail on his claim for service connection for TBI. Service connection is granted for TBI as it is etiologically related to active service. The acquired psychiatric disorder was found to be due to willful misconduct during active service.
- Claimed conditions
- hearing loss, traumatic brain injury (TBI), acquired psychiatric disorder (including PTSD, depression, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type)
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 8, 2019
- Citation
- 19184704
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder to ensure a proper examination and etiology opinion are provided.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for left knee strain, right knee strain, right wrist strain, and TBI. The Veteran's PTSD rating was remanded for further development.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 50 percent rating for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and denied increased ratings for right shoulder impingement syndrome, hearing loss, painful scar, patellofemoral pain syndromes of the knees, and other conditions.
- Dismissed
The veteran's appeal requests for service connection and increased ratings were denied due to untimeliness, as the appeals were not filed within one year of the respective rating decisions.
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