The Veteran's service-connected disabilities do not render him incapable of securing or following a substantially gainful occupation, and his TDIU claim is denied.
The deciding factor: The Veteran’s combined disability rating does not meet the schedular criteria for TDIU due to the severity of his service-connected disabilities alone.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine, Left lower leg radiculopathy, Right lower leg radiculopathy, Tinnitus, Bilateral hearing loss
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 70%
- Decision date
- December 4, 2020
- Citation
- A20017948
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss, as there was no evidence of a current disability in the right ear and insufficient evidence to establish a nexus between the left ear hearing loss and service.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, finding that the Veteran's conditions are related to in-service noise exposure.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter for a medical clarification regarding whether the Veteran's service-connected epilepsy has aggravated his bilateral hearing loss.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss to obtain an addendum opinion addressing the Veteran's lay statements regarding in-service acoustic trauma and a rocket blast injury.
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