The Veteran's service-connected disabilities, including back disability, hypertension, and bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy related to his back disability, prevent him from obtaining and maintaining substantially gainful employment. The Board has granted the TDIU rating.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's service-connected disabilities, particularly his back disability, significantly impair his ability to perform physical labor required for most jobs, making it impossible for him to secure and follow a substantially gainful occupation.
- Claimed conditions
- intervertebral disc syndrome with spinal stenosis and degenerative disc disease (back disability), hypertension, bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy related to back disability, tinnitus, amputation of left little finger, hiatal hernia, bilateral hearing loss
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 70%
- Decision date
- December 3, 2020
- Citation
- A20017934
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
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board granted an effective date of October 21, 2021, for the grant of service connection for hypertension.
- 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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including prostate cancer and related disabilities, urinary incontinence, sleep apnea, hypertension, varicose veins, lumbar spine disability, hip arthritis, shoulder arthritis, ankle arthritis, knee strain, knee replacement, and hand arthritis. The only condition granted was a 10 percent rating for a fracture of the right proximal first metacarpal.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for tinnitus to correct a duty to assist error, as the Veteran's lay statements regarding onset and continuity of symptoms were not adequately considered in the previous decision.
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