The Veteran's claim for service connection for chronic tuberculosis (TB) was denied due to lack of a clinical diagnosis. New and material evidence has not been received since the last final denial.,Service connection for a back disability is reopened based on new evidence submitted by the Veteran, but the Board finds that there is no competent medical evidence linking the current disability to service or any other condition. The claim remains denied.,The effective date for service connection for bilateral hearing loss cannot be earlier than January 14, 2016, as the Veteran did not have a hearing loss disability for VA purposes prior to that date.,Further development is needed on the issues of right knee disability, left knee disability, sinus disability, and obstructive sleep apnea due to lack of medical evidence linking these conditions to service or any other condition.,The issue of skin cysts remains remanded as there is insufficient information regarding its onset in service.
The deciding factor: There was no clinical diagnosis of tuberculosis during service. The new evidence does not provide a current diagnosis of TB.,The Veteran's statements and the VA hearing testimony do not establish a direct link between the back disability and service or any other condition.,The effective date for bilateral hearing loss cannot be earlier than January 14, 2016, as there is no evidence showing hearing loss prior to that date.,Further development is needed due to lack of medical evidence linking these conditions to service or any other condition.,There is insufficient information regarding the onset of skin cysts in service.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic tuberculosis (TB), back disability, bilateral hearing loss, right knee disability, left knee disability, sinus disability, obstructive sleep apnea, skin cysts
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 17, 2022
- Citation
- 22009507
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 22009507.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for service connection of bilateral hearing loss and a ruptured right ear drum was dismissed due to the death of the Veteran.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is remanded for additional development, including a new VA examination to assess his bilateral knee and hip disabilities.
- Denied
The Board found that the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss was noted upon entry into active duty service and did not increase in severity during service. Therefore, it denied his claim for service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for bilateral hearing loss, migraine headaches, and PTSD due to additional development of records and examination.
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