The Veteran's hypertension is granted as service-connected due to presumed exposure to herbicide agents during his Vietnam service.,Service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus are granted based on the presumption of herbicide agent exposure. The Veteran had a history of noise exposure in service, which supports these findings.,Obstructive sleep apnea is remanded as there was no clear evidence provided to support its onset during service.,Vascular dementia is also remanded for further review due to insufficient evidence on the issue.,Special monthly compensation (SMC) for aid and attendance (A&A) is remanded.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's hypertension was found to be related to his presumed exposure to herbicide agents during service, as supported by recent epidemiological studies indicating a positive association between hypertension and such exposure.,Bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus were granted based on the presumption of herbicide agent exposure. The Veteran had documented noise exposure in service which supports these findings.,Obstructive sleep apnea was not established due to insufficient evidence linking its onset during service.,Vascular dementia was remanded as there was no clear evidence provided to support its onset during service.,Special monthly compensation (SMC) for aid and attendance (A&A) was remanded without further details.
- Claimed conditions
- hypertension, bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), vascular dementia
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 16, 2020
- Citation
- 20003714
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
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