The Veteran's claim for service connection for hearing loss is denied as he does not have a current disability.,The Veteran's claim for residuals of an appendectomy is denied as there is no evidence of any current residual disabilities from his appendectomy in the available medical records.,The Veteran's claim for PTSD is denied as he has not submitted any evidence that he has a current diagnosis of PTSD.,The Veteran's claim for service connection for diabetes mellitus type 2 due to exposure to herbicides is remanded for further development, including verification of his in-service herbicide exposure.,The Veteran's claim for service connection for a left foot condition (plantar warts) is denied as there are no records showing the diagnosis occurred during a period of active duty.
The deciding factor: Service connection requires evidence of a current disability, and the available evidence does not show hearing loss at any of the five frequencies or Maryland CNC results less than 94 percent.,The Veteran has not submitted any evidence that he has a current diagnosis for residuals of an appendectomy. The VA examination report shows no current residual disabilities from his appendectomy in the available medical records.,PTSD requires a current disability, and the Veteran has not provided any evidence that he has a current diagnosis of PTSD. The Veteran is not competent to diagnose a complex psychiatric disorder such as PTSD.,The Veteran's claim for service connection for diabetes mellitus type 2 due to exposure to herbicides is remanded because there are no records showing his in-service herbicide exposure, and further development is needed to verify this information.,The Veteran's claim for service connection for a left foot condition (plantar warts) is denied as the diagnosis occurred during a period of inactive duty training (INACDUTRA), not active duty.
- Claimed conditions
- Hearing Loss, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Tinnitus
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 26, 2020
- Citation
- 20056509
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 20056509.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, finding that the Veteran's current conditions are not related to his military service.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for a higher rating for PTSD and dismissed his appeals regarding increased ratings for tinnitus and a right hand disability due to lack of timely filing of Notice of Disagreement.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions, including GAD, MDD, bruxism, migraines/headaches, tinnitus, hip pain, iliotibial band syndrome, and leg stress fractures. The evidence does not support current diagnoses of these conditions during the appeal period.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for an effective date prior to December 27, 2019 for the grant of service connection for PTSD was denied as there is no earlier claim document in the claims file and the Veteran did not timely perfect an appeal.
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