The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for OSA, increased ratings for lumbosacral disc disease and left knee disabilities due to new evidence and development of records.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner must address whether the Veteran’s current OSA is directly related to active service and if it is caused or aggravated by his service-connected GERD and orthopedic disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), Disabilities of the bilateral knees, bilateral hips, and lumbosacral spine
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 11, 2019
- Citation
- 19178214
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for obstructive sleep apnea, left knee disability, and right knee disability. The claims for urinary frequency disability and residuals of a cholecystectomy were denied.
- Partly granted
The Board denied an initial increased rating for diabetes mellitus type II and remanded the claims for service connection for obstructive sleep apnea, right shoulder strain with acromioclavicular joint osteoarthritis and tendinitis, cervical spine spondylosis, left knee degenerative arthritis, right knee degenerative arthritis, and thoracolumbar scoliosis and lumbar spine degenerative changes.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection of obstructive sleep apnea as it requires further development and evidence.
- Granted
The Board granted a 10 percent evaluation for the Veteran's GERD, finding that his condition is productive of daily medications to control dysphagia and is otherwise asymptomatic.
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