The appeal is remanded for additional development, including a medical examination to determine the etiology of the veteran's claimed sleep disorder.
The deciding factor: The Board erred in its determination that the veteran's sleepwalking clearly and unmistakably pre-existed service and was not aggravated by military service. The case should be remanded for an adequate medical examination or opinion.
- Claimed conditions
- sleepwalking
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 17, 2009
- Citation
- 0905695
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,710 · Granted: 15% (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 0905695.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remanded the veteran's claims for anxiety, cleithrophobia, and depression to provide proper notice of the right to a hearing before readjudicating the issues.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and remanded the claim for a disability manifested by sleepwalking. The Veteran's current bilateral hearing loss is not related to his military service, as it did not manifest during service or within one year of discharge, and there is no evidence linking it to noise exposure. For the separate claim for sleepwalking, additional development is needed.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for anxiety with chronic sleep impairment, finding that the Veteran's current disability is attributable to his military service. The claim for service connection for sleepwalking remains pending and will be remanded.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for sleepwalking and depression, finding that the Veteran's current conditions are related to his military service. Sleepwalking is found to have begun during service, while depression is secondary to the Veteran's service-connected sleepwalking.
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