The Board has determined that the Veteran's obstructive sleep apnea is secondary to his service-connected disabilities, including hypertension and unspecified trauma and stressor-related disorder. The decision grants service connection for this condition.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner opined that obesity and body habitus changes caused by the Veteran's service-connected knee disabilities and lower extremity radiculopathy have aggravated his obstructive sleep apnea.
- Claimed conditions
- obstructive sleep apnea, hypertensive heart disease, left shoulder degenerative joint disease, unspecified trauma and stressor-related disorder, degenerative disc disease of the cervical spine, residual of ACL repair of the right knee with degenerative joint disease, radiculopathy of the right and left upper extremities, arthritis of the lumbar spine, degenerative joint disease of the left knee, hypertension, rhabdomyolysis of the left and right lower extremities, bilateral pes planus, GERD, ganglion cyst of the right wrist, erectile dysfunction, right knee surgical scar
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- August 8, 2019
- Citation
- 19161495
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,913 · Granted: 30% (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 19161495.
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 claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for diabetes mellitus type II with erectile dysfunction was denied as the evidence did not show that he had been diagnosed and manifested to at least a 10 percent disability rating on or prior to May 8, 2001.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for obstructive sleep apnea, finding that there is no competent evidence to support a finding that his current condition began in or as a result of service.
- Denied
The Board of Veterans' Appeals (BVA) has denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for obstructive sleep apnea as there is no current diagnosis of this condition during the appeal period.
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