The Board has decided that the Veteran's low back disability is not secondary to his service-connected bilateral knee disabilities and denied service connection. The case for sleep apnea was remanded due to insufficient evidence.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found no link between the Veteran’s weight gain, which may be related to his service-connected bilateral knee disabilities, and his sleep apnea.
- Claimed conditions
- low back strain, obesity
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 22, 2019
- Citation
- 19180215
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.
- Dismissed
The veteran withdrew his appeals for service connection for obesity, obstructive sleep apnea, and hypertension.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a restoration of the separate 10 percent rating for vertigo, an earlier effective date for service connection for vertigo and migraines, and a 30 percent rating for hypothyroidism with heart murmur. The decision also denied an earlier effective date for hypertension and remanded claims for obesity, obstructive sleep apnea, and individual unemployability.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities render him unable to follow and secure substantially gainful employment, thus a total disability rating for individual unemployability is granted.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for several conditions, including OSA, cervical spine condition, left shoulder condition, right shoulder condition, and others, but dismissed appeals for obesity, TMJ, insomnia, left elbow, and right elbow. The Board also denied an earlier effective date for a 70% rating for acquired psychiatric disorder.
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