The Veteran's claims of entitlement to service connection for PTSD and hearing loss were first denied in a February 2017 rating decision. The Board finds that remand is warranted due to the need for additional development, including VA examinations and obtaining medical records.
The deciding factor: The Veteran has not been afforded a VA examination or provided with all necessary medical records related to his claims of service connection for PTSD, hearing loss, dry eye syndrome, and left knee arthritis.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral hearing loss disability, acquired psychiatric disorder (including PTSD), dry eye syndrome, left knee arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 10, 2020
- Citation
- 20001338
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,451 · Granted: 22% (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 20001338.
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.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeal of entitlement to service connection for dry eye syndrome claimed as visual impairment, including blurry vision, blindness, double vision due to procedural error. The Veteran's claim for service connection for sleep apnea was denied because there is no evidence of a current diagnosis of sleep apnea.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has granted service connection for tinnitus but has remanded the issue of service connection for bilateral hearing loss disability due to inadequate examination and reasoning.
- Granted
The Board has granted the claims for service connection for anxiety, depression, and an acquired psychiatric disorder (including PTSD), finding that new and relevant evidence supports these claims.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's claim for an initial compensable rating for OSA is denied as his sleep apnea has not been manifested by persistent daytime hypersomnolence or required use of a breathing assistance device such as a CPAP machine.,The Veteran's claims for service connection for dry eye syndrome and an increased rating for left knee disability are remanded due to procedural errors in the adjudication process.
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