The Board has denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and remanded the remaining issues due to insufficient evidence. The Veteran's current diagnoses are not shown to be related to his military service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found that the Veteran’s current diagnoses were less likely caused by his military service, as he had normal hearing at separation and no contemporaneous diagnosis of any of these conditions within one year of separation.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, degenerative joint disease of the left hip, degenerative joint disease of the right hip, degenerative joint disease of the left knee, degenerative joint disease of the right knee, degenerative joint disease of the left ankle, degenerative joint disease of the right ankle, degenerative joint disease of the left foot, degenerative joint disease of the right foot, chronic low back pain, hypertensive cardiovascular disease, multiple myeloma-active, hypothyroidism, diabetes mellitus, type II, neuropathy of the right upper extremity, neuropathy of the left upper extremity, neuropathy of the left lower extremity, neuropathy of the right lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 19, 2019
- Citation
- 19194923
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 19194923.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a deviated septum and denied compensable ratings for allergic rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, hypothyroidism, and hypertension.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for hypertension and diabetes mellitus to obtain further medical opinions regarding their potential relationship to toxic exposures during active service.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for hypothyroidism, as it is presumptively linked to herbicide agent exposure during the Veteran's service in Vietnam.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for right foot, left elbow, left hip, left ankle, and diabetes mellitus to obtain additional medical evidence.
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