Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2023C00151:reg:15:p13
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2023C00151
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 15 (pt 13/28)
Character Range: 360721–363682

the form of IVF, GIFT, or a similar procedure or hormonal stimuli and who as a result of such procedures does succeed in becoming the biological father of a viable infant; or

       the situation of a man who has been advised that he is infertile and who, as a result, with his partner, has adopted a child and who then, and only after that, has become the biological father of a viable infant in the normal way.

The impairment rating for reduced fertility is given to compensate veterans for the delay they and their partners will have incurred in starting their family as a result of waiting for investigations and in undergoing the procedures and for the stress of hormone therapy which places a considerable emotional stress on both partners and a specific physiological stress on the female.

The fertility problem should only be assessed as "infertility" under this Guide if it prevents the veteran from having children that the veteran would otherwise have had. It is for a medical practitioner to diagnose whether a fertility condition is present. The veteran must advise whether the fertility condition prevented the birth of a child that otherwise the veteran would have parented.

If the veteran is of the opinion that the fertility condition did not actually prevent the veteran from having a child, the condition is to be assessed at the same rate as reduced fertility.

Cervical incompetence is to be rated in the same way as are problems of fertility.

Step 1: (Omit this step if you are assessing an accepted condition of a female veteran.) Determine a functional impairment rating for loss of reproductive function in male veterans from Table 10.2.1.
Functional Loss Table 10.2.1
REPRODUCTIVE FUNCTION: MALE
Impairment Ratings            Criteria
NIL                           Varicocele or hydrocele, associated with no or negligible symptoms.
TWO                           Infertility with onset at age 55 or older.
FIVE                             Varicocele or hydrocele sufficient to cause enlargement of scrotum, and daily symptoms.
                                 Loss of one testis at any age.
                                 Infertility with onset at age 45–54.
                               Reduced fertility with onset at age less than 45.
TEN                              Infertility with onset at age less than 45.
                               Loss of both testes at age 45 or older.
FIFTEEN                          Loss of both testes at age 31 to 45.
                               Infertility with onset at age 30 or less.
TWENTY                        Loss of both testes at age 30 or less.
                              Only one rating is to be selected from this table.

No age adjustment permitted for this table

This is the final rating for loss of reproductive function in male veterans. The rating obtained from Table 10.2.1 is not to be compared or combined with any other rating at this stage,