The Board remands the claims for service connection for various conditions, including facial injury with six teeth missing, sinus disability, right eye injury, traumatic brain injury (TBI), bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, acquired psychiatric disability, cirrhosis of the liver, diabetes mellitus type II, and cause of death, as well as Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 1318, to the AOJ for further development.
The deciding factor: The claims must be remanded because there is no evidence in the claims file that the AOJ fulfilled its duty to assist through sufficiently attempting to locate records related to the Veteran's alleged beating during basic training in 1968 and his need to repeat basic training due to injuries sustained from this incident.
- Claimed conditions
- Facial injury with six teeth missing, Sinus disability, Right eye injury, Traumatic brain injury (TBI), Bilateral hearing loss, Tinnitus, Acquired psychiatric disability, to include major depressive disorder (MDD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Cirrhosis of the liver, Diabetes mellitus type II (DM II), Cause of the Veteran's death, Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 1318
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 29, 2025
- Citation
- 25007285
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.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, finding that the Veteran's conditions are related to in-service noise exposure.
- 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.
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