The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss, finding that the Veteran's current hearing impairment is not related to his military service.,The Board also denied service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder (including PTSD and depressive disorder), concluding that there was no evidence of a diagnosis of PTSD during or in proximity to the relevant appeal period.
The deciding factor: The medical evidence did not support the Veteran's contention that his hearing loss is related to service, as none of the examiners opined that his hearing loss was caused by service. The Board found no causal relationship between current hearing impairment and military service.,For PTSD, the Board noted that there was no diagnosis of PTSD in the record, and the August 2019 VA examiner did not provide a formal diagnosis of PTSD. Therefore, the Veteran's lay statements alone were insufficient to establish the occurrence of the claimed stressor.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral hearing loss, an acquired psychiatric disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 10, 2020
- Citation
- 20002343
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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- Denied
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The Veteran's tinnitus is granted, while fibromyalgia, internal or external hemorrhoids, bilateral hearing loss, and neuropathy are denied.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for bilateral hearing loss, finding it at least as likely as not related to the Veteran's in-service noise exposure.
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