The Veteran's claim for service connection for obstructive sleep apnea is remanded due to insufficient medical opinions regarding the relationship between his service-connected conditions and his sleep apnea.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner needs to provide a supplemental opinion addressing whether the Veteran’s sleep apnea was caused or aggravated by his service-connected conditions, including diabetes mellitus and PTSD.
- Claimed conditions
- obstructive sleep apnea, diabetes mellitus (DM), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), internal derangement of left knee, lumbar disc degeneration, peripheral neuropathy of the left lower extremity, peripheral neuropathy of the right lower extremity, internal derangement of the right knee
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 4, 2019
- Citation
- 19142955
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 granted service connection for obstructive sleep apnea, effective from the date of the February 2025 rating decision.
- 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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew the appeals for service connection for bilateral pes planus, obstructive sleep apnea, bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for obstructive sleep apnea due to a duty to assist error.
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