The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for sleep apnea, finding that it is secondary to his service-connected generalized anxiety disorder, left knee strain, right knee osteoarthritis, and cervical degenerative disc disease.
The deciding factor: The private opinion provided by the clinician established a link between the Veteran’s weight gain from medications prescribed for his service-connected conditions and his sleep apnea, which was also considered as a risk factor.
- Claimed conditions
- sleep apnea, generalized anxiety disorder, left knee strain, right knee osteoarthritis, cervical degenerative disc disease
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 27, 2019
- Citation
- 19150218
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.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for left knee strain, right knee strain, right wrist strain, and TBI. The Veteran's PTSD rating was remanded for further development.
- 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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The appeal is remanded to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors, including the failure to obtain relevant treatment records and provide adequate VA examinations.
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