The Veteran's claim for service connection for sleep apnea is remanded due to insufficient medical opinion regarding the relationship between his current condition and active duty service, as well as whether it was aggravated by or caused by his service-connected psychiatric disability and/or chronic pain medication.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not address whether the Veteran's service-connected psychiatric disorder aggravated his sleep apnea or if his sleep apnea was related to any other service-connected disabilities including use of medication for those conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- sleep apnea
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 18, 2019
- Citation
- A19002889
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 A19002889.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including prostate cancer and related disabilities, urinary incontinence, sleep apnea, hypertension, varicose veins, lumbar spine disability, hip arthritis, shoulder arthritis, ankle arthritis, knee strain, knee replacement, and hand arthritis. The only condition granted was a 10 percent rating for a fracture of the right proximal first metacarpal.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for sleep apnea as there is no evidence of an in-service injury or disease, and no competent evidence linking the condition to service.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for asthma and remanded claims for insomnia and sleep apnea. Other conditions were denied.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including sinusitis, elbows condition, cervical condition, erectile dysfunction, kidney condition, sleep apnea, wrists condition, asthma, shoulders condition, ankles condition, eye condition (bilateral dry macular degeneration), peripheral vascular disease (heart condition), and rhinitis.
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