The Veteran's claim of entitlement to an earlier effective date prior to August 18, 2011 for the grant of service connection for GERD with insomnia is denied.,The Veteran's claim of entitlement to service connection for hepatitis C remains pending and will be remanded for further development.,The Veteran's claims of entitlement to service connection for lumbar arthralgia with lumbar spondylosis, right shoulder arthralgia, left shoulder arthralgia, left leg pain, and right leg pain are all pending and will be remanded for further development.,The Veteran's claim of entitlement to service connection for hypertension (high blood pressure) remains pending and will be remanded for further development.,The Veteran's claims of entitlement to service connection for dizziness, headaches, and an acquired psychiatric disorder (depression) remain pending and will be remanded for further development.,The Veteran's claim of entitlement to service connection for a sleep disorder (including sleep apnea), claimed as a respiratory condition, remains pending and will be remanded for further development.
The deciding factor: There is no communication in the claims file that was received prior to August 18, 2011 that could be construed as a claim for service connection for GERD or insomnia.,The Veteran's hepatitis C appears to have been diagnosed shortly after his discharge from his last verified period of active military service (at least thus far), and the Veteran should be afforded another VA examination on remand.,Due to this newly claimed mode of causation, these issues are now also inextricably intertwined with the Veteran’s claim of entitlement to service connection for a sleep disorder, which includes obstructive sleep apnea. Thus, they must be remanded on that basis, as well.,The Veteran's periods of ACDUTRA and INACDUTRA have not yet been verified. The Veteran also claims that his hypertension may have been caused or at least aggravated by his service-connected GERD.,Considering the evidence, the Veteran should be afforded a VA examination for the purpose of determining the nature and etiology of any claimed dizziness, headaches, and acquired psychiatric disorder (depression).,The Veteran's representative has submitted medical literature supporting that there may be a relation between his claimed sleep apnea and his claimed dizziness, headaches, and depression. A VA examination opinion should be obtained answering the question of whether the Veteran’s claimed sleep apnea is at least as likely as not to have caused or aggravated any of these conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), insomnia, hepatitis C, lumbar arthralgia with lumbar spondylosis, right shoulder arthralgia, left shoulder arthralgia, left leg pain, right leg pain, hypertension (high blood pressure), dizziness, headaches, acquired psychiatric disorder (depression)
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 10, 2019
- Citation
- 19102587
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,548 · Granted: 31% (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 19102587.
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 has determined that the Veteran's headaches are at least as likely as not caused by his service-connected traumatic brain injury, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to incomplete development of records and will provide a supplemental statement of the case if necessary.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has expanded the scope of the claim for major depression to encompass any mental health disability raised by the record and has remanded six issues for additional development.
- Partly granted
The Board has not made a final determination on the claims of service connection for inguinal hernia, PTSD, joint pain, fibromyalgia, left knee disability, right knee disability, tinnitus, chronic fatigue syndrome, respiratory disability, sleep disorder, IBS, and headaches. The claims are remanded to obtain additional evidence and determine if these conditions are related to service.
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