The Board granted service connection for tinnitus, a right knee disability, and a low back disability but denied the claims for an earlier effective date for hypertension and distal lateral surgical scar of the right long finger, depression, bilateral hearing loss, and a right elbow disability. The Veteran was also granted an initial 10 percent rating for hypertension.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the evidence did not support service connection for depression, bilateral hearing loss, or a right elbow disability, but supported it for tinnitus, a right knee disability, and a low back disability based on in-service noise exposure and ongoing symptoms. The effective date was set to the date of receipt of the claim.
- Claimed conditions
- hypertension, distal lateral surgical scar of the right long finger, depression, bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, right knee disability, low back disability, right elbow disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- December 9, 2025
- Citation
- A25106005
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 719 · Granted: 54% (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 A25106005.
What this means for you
A partial grant means some issues were granted while others were denied or remanded — common in multi-issue claims. Look at which issues went which way, and how each was argued.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
- 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.
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