tinnitus Award Letter: Va Deferred On A Decision

[E-4 Marine]

Hi all,

I filed a claim for low back and tinnitus back on January 2011. Since filing I have had two C&Ps for the tinnitus and one C&P for my back. Yesterday I received a brown envelope that had the following under the “What We Decided” section:

We determined that the following condition was related to your military service, so service connection has been granted:

Medical Description Percentage Assigned (%) Effective Date

Tinnitus 10% JAN 2011

** We have deferred a decision on the following issue because we need additional information or evidence: Low Back Condition

I just wanted to get everyone’s feedback to the VA deferring a decision on my back. Is this good or bad sign? Look forward to everyone’s thoughts.

Thanks,

Oli

[rdawg]

to me it is a bad sign (low back). they did not have enough evidence to award service connection. Did u get an IMO stating your current condition is related to service? Or are you relying on the va to connect the dots. 99 times out of 100 they will not connect the dots.

[Carl the Engineer]

Last go around, I recieved a decision on two claims with a third deferred. I did recieved a increase on the deferred claim a month later. I believe, the examiner had not opined in the way that they wanted and gave her 3-5 options (sentences) to pick from. She appearently chose the right one for me, as I got a increase.

I just got the envelope last week on my current 5 claims. 2 SC'd out of 4 and a fifth was deferred. Just went to that C & P and am pretty sure it will be SC'd however, however also pretty sure it will be a 0%.

I have come to believe that Service Connection is the most important for the long haul. Percentages can be massaged over time.

Hamslice