The Veteran's tinnitus is related to noise exposure during active service. The Board finds that the evidence is in equipoise as to whether the Veteran’s sleep apnea is related to service or proximately due to his service-connected PTSD. The issues of acid reflux, alopecia, diverticulitis, migraines, athlete’s foot of the right foot, athlete’s foot of the left foot, back disability, bilateral hearing loss, chronic bronchitis, hemorrhoids, right foot heel spur, left foot heel spur, right knee disability, left knee disability, right shoulder disability, left shoulder disability, neuropathy of the bilateral lower extremities, neuropathy of the bilateral upper extremities, and pseudofolliculitis barbae are remanded for further examination and consideration.
The deciding factor: The evidence is in equipoise as to whether the Veteran’s sleep apnea is related to service or proximately due to his service-connected PTSD.
- Claimed conditions
- tinnitus, sleep apnea, acid reflux, alopecia, diverticulitis, migraines, athlete’s foot of the right foot, athlete’s foot of the left foot, back disability, bilateral hearing loss, chronic bronchitis, hemorrhoids, right foot heel spur, left foot heel spur, right knee disability, left knee disability, right shoulder disability, left shoulder disability, neuropathy of the left lower extremity, neuropathy of the right lower extremity, neuropathy of the right upper extremity, neuropathy of the left upper extremity, pseudofolliculitis barbae
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 27, 2019
- Citation
- 19114380
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 19114380.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for a back disability due to a duty to assist error, specifically regarding VA's failure to provide the Veteran with a VA examination prior to the rating decision.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a direct service connection opinion and an adequate secondary service connection aggravation opinion.
- Partly granted
The Veteran was granted a 70 percent initial disability rating for PTSD effective December 2, 2021, but the claim for an increased rating in excess of 70 percent was denied. The appeal also included claims for service connection and ratings for various conditions, some of which were granted while others were remanded.
- 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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