The Board denied service connection for cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine disorders, as well as bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus. The Veteran's claims were reopened due to new evidence submitted after September 2005.,Service connection was not granted for any of the claimed conditions.
The deciding factor: The preponderance of the evidence did not support a finding that the Veteran’s current cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine disorders were related to service. The Board found conflicting medical records and inconsistent statements from the Veteran regarding his in-service injuries and symptom onset.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral hearing loss, Cervical spine disorder, Lumbar spine disorder, Lung disorder (including shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, bronchitis, and/or pneumonia), Thoracic spine disorder, Tinnitus
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 13, 2019
- Citation
- 19193760
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,569 · Granted: 26% (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 19193760.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, finding that the Veteran's current conditions are not related to his military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for a cervical spine disorder and psychiatric disorder due to incomplete information. The Veteran needs to provide his complete service personnel records, verify his alleged combat experience in Vietnam, and undergo VA examinations for both conditions.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for a low back disorder was reopened, and his claims for increased ratings of bilateral knee instability were granted. His hearing loss claim was denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a cervical spine disorder, finding that there was no evidence of a causal relationship between his current condition and his military service.
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