Claim Raven explanation
What this means
This statute provides special treatment for specified combinations of service-connected and nonservice-connected disabilities affecting paired organs or extremities. Qualifying combinations are compensated as if both were service connected.
The requirements depend on the organs involved and their severity. The rule is not a general extension of service connection to every matching organ that later develops a problem.
How this helps your claim
Compare the medical findings on both sides with the applicable statutory category and section 3.383. The records should make clear which disability is service connected and what impairment exists on the other side.
What to check in your records
Use your decision, examination reports, and relevant records to check the following points.
- Identify the service-connected side and the nonservice-connected counterpart.
- Gather the required vision, hearing, loss-of-use, or other measurements.
- Check the category-specific severity requirements used in the decision.
Check the paired organs against the actual thresholds
This statute covers specified combinations, not all bilateral disabilities. Identify the service-connected organ or extremity, the other impairment and the severity conditions for that particular pair. Keep each side's clinical findings clearly labeled.
The implementing regulation adds practical detail about applying the framework. A payment rule treating a qualifying pair as if both were service connected should be read as written. It does not automatically establish a military-service cause for every later problem affecting the matching organ.
Does having hearing or vision trouble on both sides automatically qualify?
No. The applicable pairing and severity requirements must be met. Similar symptoms on both sides are not enough by themselves. Use the complete professional findings and the relevant paragraph rather than assuming that the ordinary meaning of bilateral establishes the statutory combination.
Official statutory text
38 USC § 1160
OLRC release through Public Law 119-102 (July 12, 2026). Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The statutory text is shown here; publisher source credits and editorial notes remain in the linked official release.
§ 1160. Special consideration for certain cases of loss of paired organs or extremities
(a) Where a veteran has suffered—
(1) impairment of vision in one eye as a result of service-connected disability and impairment of vision in the other eye as a result of non-service-connected disability not the result of the veteran’s own willful misconduct and—
(A) the impairment of vision in each eye is rated at a visual acuity of 20/200 or less; or
(B) the peripheral field of vision for each eye is 20 degrees or less;
(2) the loss or loss of use of one kidney as a result of service-connected disability and involvement of the other kidney as a result of non-service-connected disability not the result of the veteran’s own willful misconduct;
(3) deafness compensable to a degree of 10 percent or more in one ear as a result of service-connected disability and deafness in the other ear as the result of non-service-connected disability not the result of the veteran’s own willful misconduct;
(4) the loss or loss of use of one hand or one foot as a result of service-connected disability and the loss or loss of use of the other hand or foot as a result of non-service-connected disability not the result of the veteran’s own willful misconduct; or
(5) permanent service-connected disability of one lung, rated 50 percent or more disabling, in combination with a non-service-connected disability of the other lung that is not the result of the veteran’s own willful misconduct,
the Secretary shall assign and pay to the veteran the applicable rate of compensation under this chapter as if the combination of disabilities were the result of service-connected disability.
(b) If a veteran described in subsection (a) of this section receives any money or property of value pursuant to an award in a judicial proceeding based upon, or a settlement or compromise of, any cause of action for damages for the non-service-connected disability described in such subsection, the increase in the rate of compensation otherwise payable under this section shall not be paid for any month following a month in which any such money or property is received until such time as the total of the amount of such increase that would otherwise have been payable equals the total of the amount of any such money received and the fair market value of any such property received.
Related references
- 38 USC § 5107: Benefit of the doubt in VA claims
- 38 CFR § 3.159: VA duty to assist: records and examinations
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