The Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss was denied in August 2009 and is not being reopened.,The Veteran's claims for service connection for hypogonadism and sleep apnea were reopened due to new evidence received since the December 2013 decision, but the issue of service connection remains remanded as it pertains to aggravation or secondary conditions.,The Veteran's claim for service connection for TBI was remanded due to insufficient information regarding its nature and etiology.,The Veteran's claim for a rating in excess of 50 percent for PTSD is being remanded, and the issue of TDIU remains remanded as it pertains to employability issues related to his service-connected disabilities.
The deciding factor: No new and material evidence was received within one year of the August 2009 decision.,The new evidence submitted since the December 2013 decision relates to unestablished facts necessary to substantiate the claims, including an alternative theory of entitlement for hypogonadism and a link between PTSD and sleep apnea.,The VA examiner did not address the Veteran's alternative theory of entitlement regarding TBI or provide an opinion on its nature and etiology.,The Veteran has not provided sufficient information about his work history to determine if he is unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation due to his service-connected disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- Hypogonadism, Sleep Apnea, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 1, 2019
- Citation
- 19175427
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,776 · Granted: 24% (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 19175427.
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 service connection for sleep apnea, finding that the evidence did not support a link between the condition and service.
- 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.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its residuals, including unsteady gait, somnolence, and cognitive dysfunction. The decision is based on the Veteran's credible lay statements about in-service head injuries and subsequent seizures.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran does not have a current diagnosis of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and therefore, service connection for TBI is denied.
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