The Board has found that the Veteran's irritable bowel syndrome is service-connected due to exposure in the Southwest Asia Theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War. The claims for chronic fatigue syndrome and obstructive sleep apnea are remanded as there are insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
The deciding factor: VA etiological opinions are inadequate, particularly concerning the Veteran's chronic fatigue syndrome and obstructive sleep apnea.
- Claimed conditions
- irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, obstructive sleep apnea
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- Gulf War
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 4, 2019
- Citation
- A19001784
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.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for obstructive sleep apnea, effective from the date of the February 2025 rating decision.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew the appeals for service connection for bilateral pes planus, obstructive sleep apnea, bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for obstructive sleep apnea due to a duty to assist error.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for asthma and remanded claims for insomnia and sleep apnea. Other conditions were denied.
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