The Board has determined that the evidence is in equipoise as to whether the Veteran's OSA first manifested during service and was incurred therein. Service connection for OSA is granted. The Board also finds that there are issues with respect to the Veteran's right knee, left knee, and right ankle disorders due to lack of probative value of previous VA examination reports.
The deciding factor: The March 2015 VA examiner’s opinion was found to be lacking in probative value as it did not provide a clear rationale for its conclusions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's current knee and ankle diagnoses, nor did it consider the Veteran's service treatment records which showed in-service diagnoses and injuries.
- Claimed conditions
- Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Right Knee Disorder, Left Knee Disorder, Right Ankle Disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 21, 2019
- Citation
- 19120337
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,350 · Granted: 26% (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 19120337.
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 granted service connection for the Veteran's obstructive sleep apnea as secondary to his service-connected left knee and left ankle conditions.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for obstructive sleep apnea as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected other specified insomnia disorder.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for obstructive sleep apnea and heart disability, including coronary artery disease, as these conditions are found to be proximately due to or the result of the Veteran's service-connected PTSD.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Neck Disability, and Bilateral Upper Extremity Radiculopathy. The decision is based on the Veteran's active service and medical evidence linking these conditions to his military service.
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