The Veteran's lumbar spine and lumbosacral neuritis/radiculopathy disabilities are granted as secondary to her service-connected left knee arthritis.,Her bipolar disorder is granted based on evidence showing it had its onset during service, with symptoms continuing since then.,Her sleep apnea is granted as secondary to her service-connected bipolar disorder.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's current lumbar spine and lumbosacral neuritis/radiculopathy disabilities are found to be related to her service-connected left knee arthritis, with the evidence showing that her back conditions were aggravated by her altered gait due to her left knee disability.
- Claimed conditions
- Bipolar disorder, Degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine, Lumbosacral neuritis/radiculopathy, Sleep apnea
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 1, 2019
- Citation
- 19159979
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 19159979.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for sleep apnea and acquired psychiatric disorder (including PTSD) due to insufficient evidence of record. The Veteran is required to undergo VA examinations to determine if his conditions are related to service.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities, including bilateral pes planus with hammer toes, hallux valgus and degenerative arthritis, sleep apnea, bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, and bilateral kidney cysts, rendered him unable to secure or follow gainful employment. The Board granted the TDIU based on these conditions.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew the claims for psychiatric disability and sleep apnea.,Service connection was granted for right lower extremity radiculopathy and left lower extremity radiculopathy secondary to a service-connected back disability, but denied for right wrist disability.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for increased ratings for degenerative arthritis of the cervical spine and lumbar spine was granted with effective dates of May 13, 2019.
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