Sleep apnea decisions — 2005

The Board has determined that the veteran's current low back and knee disabilities are not related to his service.,Service connection for a low back disability, right knee disability, or left knee disability cannot be established as they are not shown to have been incurred in or aggravated by service.

The Board granted service connection for seborrheic dermatitis and assigned a noncompensable evaluation. The veteran was also granted earlier effective dates for the awards of service connection for low back strain, right foot plantar fasciitis with ankle pain, seborrheic dermatitis, right shoulder arthritis, left shoulder arthritis, and ischemic heart disease with hypertension.

The Board has determined that the appellant's hypertension is service-connected and granted a 10% evaluation for his lumbosacral strain.

The Board has remanded the case due to noncompliance with previous directives, including scheduling a VA examination and ensuring that all notification and development action required by VCAA were fully complied with.

The Board has determined that the evidence received since the September 1996 denial is not new and material for any of the claims on appeal, thus denying each petition to reopen.

The VA determined that the veteran's lumbosacral strain, with minimal spur and degenerative disc disease (DDD), warrants a 20 percent evaluation.

The Board has determined that the effective date for the grant of a total disability based on individual unemployability (TDIU) should be February 19, 1999, as this is when the veteran last worked and was awarded Social Security disability benefits.

The Board denied the veteran's claims of entitlement to service connection for anemia, chronic and/or essential thrombocytosis, essential hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and sleep apnea. The appeals were decided on the merits as direct service connection was not established.

The Board found that the veteran's service-connected schizophrenia did not contribute substantially or materially to his death from Staphylococcus aureus sepsis. The medical evidence does not support a direct causal relationship between the veteran's schizophrenia and his cause of death.

The Board has remanded the case for a VA orthopedic examination to determine if the veteran's current back disabilities are related to injuries sustained during service.

The veteran's lumbosacral strain was rated at 10 percent from December 9, 1993 to March 10, 1998. From March 11, 1998 to September 17, 2002, the rating was increased to 40 percent.

The VA has granted a disability evaluation of 20 percent for the veteran's service-connected lumbosacral strain, effective June 7, 2001.

The Board found no clear and unmistakable error in the January 1978 rating decision that granted service connection for cervical and lumbosacral spine degenerative joint disease with a 10 percent evaluation.

The Board has denied the veteran's claims for respiratory disorder, heart disability, bilateral knee spurring, bilateral foot spurs, lumbosacral strain, and bilateral shoulder degenerative changes as service connection is not established.,However, the Board has granted service connection for bilateral knee spurring, bilateral foot spurs, lumbosacral strain, and bilateral shoulder degenerative changes.

The veteran's service-connected bulimia nervosa with depression is currently rated at 10 percent, and her multiple scars are also rated at 10 percent. The decision grants the requested evaluations.

The veteran's claims for higher initial ratings for lumbosacral strain, degenerative changes of the left knee, and residuals of a right shoulder fracture were denied as his conditions did not meet the criteria for an increased rating under VA regulations.

The Board found that the veteran's current lower thoracic and lumbosacral spine disabilities were not incurred in or aggravated by active military service, nor may they be presumed to have been incurred in service. The criteria for a compensable rating for the veteran's service connected fracture of the transverse process of L3-4 on the left have not been met.

The veteran's appeal is being remanded for additional development, including obtaining medical records and scheduling a VA examination to assess his service-connected disabilities and their impact on his ability to work.

The veteran's claim for a total schedular disability rating for traumatic osteoarthritis of the lumbosacral spine is granted, effective June 26, 1998. The claim of entitlement to a TDIU is dismissed as moot due to the grant of a 100 percent rating.

The veteran's lumbosacral strain has been rated at 20 percent, the highest available under the old rating criteria for this condition.