The Board has remanded the case due to inadequate medical opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's chronic left ear infections. The case is now before the AOJ for further development and consideration.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not comply with the Board's directive to consider the Veteran's lay statements about his history of symptoms during service and the impact of a conceded in-service head injury on his current condition.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic left ear infections, ear pressure
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 5, 2022
- Citation
- 22000434
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,011 · Granted: 24% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 22000434.
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.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for chronic left ear infections with scar tissue and left ear hearing loss, finding that the Veteran's conditions developed during service and are related to his military noise exposure.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient evidence regarding the Veteran's in-service ear conditions and their relation to current disabilities, including hearing loss.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for tinnitus, but the Veteran's claim of chronic left ear infections remains pending and will be remanded to obtain VA treatment records.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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