The Board has remanded the case due to incomplete service records and the need for medical opinions regarding the date of initial onset and etiology of the Veteran's obstructive sleep apnea. The AOJ is instructed to obtain all relevant records, including VA treatment records, private treatment records, and personnel files from the National Guard.
The deciding factor: The Board found that there may be outstanding service records pertinent to the disability underlying the initial claim for benefits and that obtaining these records would impact the evidentiary standard of the claims and ensure the earliest effective date for any later award of service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- obstructive sleep apnea
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 13, 2019
- Citation
- 19162737
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,316 · Granted: 43% (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 19162737.
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.
- 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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for obstructive sleep apnea, peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper extremities, and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral lower extremities, finding that there was no evidence linking these conditions to his active service or any related exposure.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for hypertension and obstructive sleep apnea, finding that the evidence did not support a direct relationship to service or toxic exposure. The Veteran's claims were based on his participation in TERA activities during service.
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