The Veteran's hypertension is denied as there is no evidence of a disease or injury incurred in service.,Obstructive sleep apnea is denied due to lack of in-service diagnosis and no medical opinion linking it to service.,The cause of death, cardio pulmonary arrest, was not related to the Veteran's service.,DIC under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for the cause of death is denied as there is no evidence that VA care caused or contributed substantially to the Veteran's death.
The deciding factor: The preponderance of the evidence does not support a finding that hypertension began during service and was related to in-service events.,There is insufficient medical evidence linking obstructive sleep apnea to service, as no diagnosis was made during service and no opinion supports such a link.,The Veteran's cause of death (cardio pulmonary arrest) was not found to be related to his military service.,VA treatment did not proximately cause the Veteran's death. The evidence does not show VA carelessness or negligence, nor that discontinuation of hypertension medication caused the Veteran's death.
- Claimed conditions
- hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 6, 2019
- Citation
- 19109541
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,669 · 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 19109541.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for obstructive sleep apnea, finding that there is no competent evidence to support a finding that his current condition began in or as a result of service.
- Denied
The Board of Veterans' Appeals (BVA) has denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for obstructive sleep apnea as there is no current diagnosis of this condition during the appeal period.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection are being remanded due to the need for additional development, including VA examinations.
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