The Veteran's lung disorder, asthma, and sleep apnea claims are granted. The remaining issues of service connection for bilateral ankle, shoulder, hip, and leg disorders are denied.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found no objective evidence of COPD or other chronic respiratory disorders in the Veteran’s post-service medical records, and concluded that his current lung disorder is less likely related to service.
- Claimed conditions
- lung disorder (COPD), bilateral ankle disorder, bilateral shoulder disorder, bilateral hip disorder, bilateral leg disorder, asthma, rhinosinusitis, allergy disorder, sleep apnea
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 8, 2019
- Citation
- 19126474
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including prostate cancer and related disabilities, urinary incontinence, sleep apnea, hypertension, varicose veins, lumbar spine disability, hip arthritis, shoulder arthritis, ankle arthritis, knee strain, knee replacement, and hand arthritis. The only condition granted was a 10 percent rating for a fracture of the right proximal first metacarpal.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for sleep apnea as there is no evidence of an in-service injury or disease, and no competent evidence linking the condition to service.
- Granted
The Veteran was granted a 70 percent disability rating for unspecified trauma and stressor-related disorder with major depressive disorder, recurrent, and alcohol use disorder in early remission, as well as TDIU due to asthma and SMC at the housebound rate.
- 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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