The Veteran's sleep apnea is granted as secondary to his service-connected left shoulder disability and depressive disorder. The lumbar spine, bilateral hip, and bilateral knee disabilities are denied due to lack of evidence linking them to service.
The deciding factor: The April 2019 private physician opined that the Veteran’s depressive disorder and pain from his left shoulder aided in the development and permanently aggravated his obstructive sleep apnea. The November 2018 VA examiner found no current right knee disability, and concluded that the hip conditions are due to his back condition with bilateral radicular pain.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral Hip Disabilities, Bilateral Knee Disabilities, Lumbar Spine Disability, Sleep Apnea
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 20%
- Decision date
- August 5, 2019
- Citation
- 19160556
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,500 · Granted: 29% (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 19160556.
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
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- Denied
The claims for PTSD, an acquired psychiatric disorder, memory loss/memory problems, chronic fatigue, sleep difficulties/sleep disturbances, and sleep apnea have been denied. The claim for service connection for residuals of testicular denervation and varicosectomy has been granted.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's asthma is currently rated at 30 percent, and the Board finds that a higher rating is not warranted.,The Veteran's sleep apnea claim has been remanded due to duty-to-assist errors.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted SMC at the rate of 50% for his service-connected conditions from April 20, 2020 to June 7, 2021.
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