The Veteran's service-connected disabilities, particularly Parkinson's disease, prevent both physical and sedentary employment, warranting a total disability rating based on individual unemployability.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's service-connected disabilities significantly impair his ability to perform any type of work due to severe tremors, cognitive impairment, balance issues, and other conditions affecting his physical and mental abilities.
- Claimed conditions
- right upper extremity tremors, Parkinson's disease with depression, cognitive impairment, sleep disturbance, and visual hallucination, balance impairment, urinary problems, difficulty chewing and swallowing, bilateral hearing loss, left upper extremity tremors, left lower extremity tremors, tinnitus, loss of left automatic movements, loss of right automatic movements, left hand residuals of third and fourth metacarpal fracture, left ear postoperative Attico-antrotomy, constipation, erectile dysfunction, right sided stooped posture, loss of smell, left stooped posture
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 14, 2024
- Citation
- 24032975
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for tinnitus to correct a duty to assist error, as the Veteran's lay statements regarding onset and continuity of symptoms were not adequately considered in the previous decision.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew the appeals for service connection for bilateral pes planus, obstructive sleep apnea, bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for tinnitus, cubital tunnel syndrome, right plantar fasciitis, and a right knee disability due to the lack of evidence supporting a nexus between these conditions and the Veteran's military service.
- Granted
The Board granted an effective date of April 25, 2022, for the award of service connection for tinnitus and a 100 percent initial rating for PTSD with alcohol use disorder.
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