The claims for service connection and higher ratings are remanded to comply with the Court's mandate, including obtaining a VA audiological opinion on the etiology of bilateral hearing loss.
The deciding factor: Remand is necessary due to deficiencies in previous VA examination reports and to consider additional evidence added to the claims file since the last readjudication.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral hearing loss, Right tibial arthralgia with shin splints and right knee chondromalacia and osteoarthritis, Left tibial arthralgia with shin splints and left knee chondromalacia and osteoarthritis (now characterized as residuals of a total left knee arthroplasty)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 30, 2024
- Citation
- 24004584
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.
- 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 matter for a medical clarification regarding whether the Veteran's service-connected epilepsy has aggravated his bilateral hearing loss.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss to obtain an addendum opinion addressing the Veteran's lay statements regarding in-service acoustic trauma and a rocket blast injury.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date of May 17, 2019, for a 70 percent disability rating for PTSD but denied earlier effective dates for service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus.
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