The Veteran's shin splints have been granted an initial 10 percent rating. The right shoulder, bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, and sleep apnea claims are remanded for further examination and opinion. The PTSD claim is also remanded with a request to issue a statement of the case on the issues of ratings in excess of 50 percent prior to January 21, 2015 and in excess of 70 percent from January 21, 2015 to August 21, 2018.
The deciding factor: The claims are remanded as the Veteran has not been provided with a VA examination or opinion regarding his right shoulder disability, bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, and sleep apnea. The PTSD claim is also remanded due to the filing of a notice of disagreement on the rating and effective date issues.
- Claimed conditions
- shin splits, right shoulder disability (rotator cuff tear), bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, sleep apnea
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 4, 2019
- Citation
- 19100819
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,287 · Granted: 23% (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 19100819.
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 the Veteran's claim for service connection for sleep apnea, finding that there was no evidence of a chronic disease manifesting within one year after service and concluding that the current disability is not related to his in-service deviated septum.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for additional development regarding the Veteran's claim of service connection for sleep apnea. The Veteran will be provided with a VA examination to determine if his current sleep disorder is related to his military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the issue of service connection for sleep apnea due to insufficient medical opinions and need for further development.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that additional development is needed for the claims on appeal, including obtaining any outstanding treatment records and scheduling VA examinations to assess the current severity of service-connected disabilities. The Veteran's representative also requested reevaluation of his service-connected disabilities.
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