The Veteran's appeal is remanded to obtain a VA examination regarding whether his vertigo is caused or aggravated by service-connected bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus disabilities.,The Veteran's appeal is also remanded to determine if his sleep apnea is related to his morbid obesity, which may be secondary to his service-connected spine, ankle, and hip disabilities.
The deciding factor: There are duty-to-assist errors in the current rating decisions that require additional evaluations or opinions regarding the Veteran's vertigo and sleep apnea.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbosacral strain disability, right ankle tendonitis and impingement disability, vertigo (secondary to hearing loss), sleep apnea (related to morbid obesity)
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 6, 2019
- Citation
- A19000443
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,071 · Granted: 26% (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 A19000443.
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 remands the claims for additional development consistent with the terms of a Joint Motion for Partial Remand.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for additional development consistent with the terms of a Joint Motion for Partial Remand, as the medical opinions obtained were not fully adequate and there has not been substantial compliance with the Board's remand directives.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his claims for service connection for lumbosacral strain, left shoulder, right shoulder, right knee, and left knee disabilities.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for a lumbosacral strain disability, finding that the condition is related to the appellant's active duty military service.
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