The Veteran's service connection claim for degenerative joint disease (DJD) with deformity and Heberden’s node of the distal right index finger is granted. The issue of an initial compensable disability rating for bilateral hearing loss is remanded, as well as the issue of service connection for lumbar degenerative changes and muscle spasms.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner opined that the Veteran's current DJD with deformity and Heberden’s node of the distal right index finger was at least as likely as not secondary to a motor vehicle accident he sustained during service, which is considered a direct link between the condition and service.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative joint disease (DJD) with deformity and Heberden's node of the distal right index finger, Bilateral hearing loss
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 13, 2019
- Citation
- 19185789
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss, as there was no evidence of a current disability in the right ear and insufficient evidence to establish a nexus between the left ear hearing loss and service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter for a medical clarification regarding whether the Veteran's service-connected epilepsy has aggravated his bilateral hearing loss.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss to obtain an addendum opinion addressing the Veteran's lay statements regarding in-service acoustic trauma and a rocket blast injury.
- 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.
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