The Veteran's claims for service connection and effective dates have been denied. His bilateral hearing loss claim is not granted, his left testicular torsion status post bilateral orchiopexies with residual scar claim has an effective date of April 7, 2014, his erectile dysfunction claim has an effective date of August 26, 2016, and his SMC based on loss of use of a creative organ is granted as of that same date. His rating for erectile dysfunction remains noncompensable.
The deciding factor: The Veteran did not meet the threshold requirements for hearing loss to be considered a disability under VA regulations.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral hearing loss, left testicular torsion status post bilateral orchiopexies with residual scar, erectile dysfunction
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 5, 2023
- Citation
- 23000581
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 140 · Granted: 18% (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 23000581.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for diabetes mellitus type II with erectile dysfunction was denied as the evidence did not show that he had been diagnosed and manifested to at least a 10 percent disability rating on or prior to May 8, 2001.
- 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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