The Board has partially vacated its April 2020 decision, denying service connection for bilateral hearing loss, right lower extremity peripheral vascular disease, left lower extremity peripheral vascular disease, and a heart condition.,Service connection was denied for all four conditions: bilateral hearing loss, right lower extremity peripheral vascular disease, left lower extremity peripheral vascular disease, and a heart condition.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the Veteran's current diagnoses of bilateral hearing loss, right lower extremity peripheral vascular disease, left lower extremity peripheral vascular disease, and a heart condition were not related to service or any presumptive exposure to herbicides. The July 2016 VA examiner concluded that the Veteran’s current hearing loss was not caused by military noise exposure, while the June 2016 VA examiner opined that the Veteran's lower extremity peripheral vascular disease and heart condition were not due to Agent Orange exposure or service-connected diabetes.
- Claimed conditions
- {"condition_name":"Bilateral Hearing Loss","diagnosis_date":null,"discharge_date":null}, {"condition_name":"Right Lower Extremity Peripheral Vascular Disease","diagnosis_date":null,"discharge_date":null}, {"condition_name":"Left Lower Extremity Peripheral Vascular Disease","diagnosis_date":null,"discharge_date":null}, {"condition_name":"Heart Condition","diagnosis_date":null,"discharge_date":null}
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 13, 2020
- Citation
- 20066037
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
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