The Board has readjudicated the claims for service connection for right ear hearing loss, pulmonary hypertension, and pulmonary fibrosis. The Veteran's claim for right ear hearing loss is denied as there is no evidence of a nexus between his current hearing loss and his military service. Service connection for pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary fibrosis are also denied due to lack of evidence linking these conditions to his service.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the Veteran did not have a valid claim for service connection for right ear hearing loss as there was no medical nexus between his current hearing loss and his military service. For pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary fibrosis, the Board noted that the earliest clinical evidence of these conditions were decades after the Veteran's separation from service, and the most probative evidence did not support a link to his service.
- Claimed conditions
- right ear hearing loss, pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary fibrosis
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 19, 2020
- Citation
- A20015684
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.
- Dismissed
The appeal for a compensable rating for left ear hearing loss, service connection for right ear hearing loss, and bilateral vision condition was dismissed. Service connection for hypertension, congestive heart failure, and coronary artery disease was denied.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for right ear hearing loss, resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor based on a finding of etiological relation to in-service noise exposure.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including left foot condition, right foot condition, cellulitis, right ear hearing loss, and right lower extremity radiculopathy. The appeal of the proposal to reduce a 40 percent evaluation for lumbosacral strain was dismissed.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an initial rating of 70 percent for the Veteran's service-connected depressive disorder due to another medical condition with depressive features and generalized anxiety disorder, denied a higher rating for his migraine including migraine variants, and denied ratings for other conditions.
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