The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, and remanded the claims for GERD, a psychiatric disorder, a cervical condition, a back condition, heart disease, sleep apnea, hemorrhoids, and a right shoulder condition.
The deciding factor: The evidence did not support a finding that the Veteran's claimed conditions were related to his military service due to the lack of in-service symptoms and the long gap between service and onset of symptoms.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral hearing loss, Tinnitus, Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), Psychiatric disorder, to include major depressive disorder and anxiety disorder, Cervical condition, Back condition, Heart disease, Sleep apnea, Hemorrhoids, Right shoulder condition
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 1, 2020
- Citation
- 20064008
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for chronic headaches, CFS, dermatosis, bilateral RLS, a lumbar spine disability, and sleep apnea but denied a compensable evaluation for allergic rhinitis.
- 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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matters for additional development, including obtaining private treatment records and conducting VA examinations.
- 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.
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