Service connection for obstructive sleep apnea is granted, with a 60% rating effective April 29, 2002.,A 100% rating for rheumatoid arthritis is granted beginning March 13, 2015.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's obstructive sleep apnea was found to be related to her service-connected disabilities, specifically chronic fatigue syndrome and asthma. The VA examiner opined that the Veteran’s currently diagnosed OSA was more likely than not aggravated by these conditions.,The Veteran's rheumatoid arthritis is rated at 60% from April 29, 2002 to March 13, 2015 due to multiple flare-ups and anemia. After this period, the condition resulted in constitutional manifestations causing total incapacitation.
- Claimed conditions
- Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Rheumatoid Arthritis
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 60%
- Decision date
- October 4, 2019
- Citation
- 19176886
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
The Board denied service connection for various disabilities and denied higher ratings for several service-connected conditions.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for obstructive sleep apnea as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected psychiatric disorders, lumbar and cervical spine disabilities, bilateral radiculopathy of the upper extremities, and bilateral radiculopathy and neuropathy of the lower extremities.
- Denied
The Board denied a rating in excess of 50 percent for PTSD, finding that the Veteran's symptoms more closely approximated those associated with a 50 percent rating.
- Partly granted
The appeal for entitlement to service connection for obstructive sleep apnea was granted, while other appeals were dismissed as untimely and remanded for further action on essential tremors.
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