The Board has remanded the claims for hearing loss, tinnitus, low back disability, and sleep apnea due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology. The Appellant is requested to undergo further examinations to provide a clear opinion on whether his conditions are related to service.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the current medical opinions were inadequate and needed to be supplemented with additional information from qualified examiners.
- Claimed conditions
- Hearing loss, Tinnitus, Low back disability, Sleep apnea
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 25, 2019
- Citation
- 19188804
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,435 · Granted: 22% (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 19188804.
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 bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, finding that the Veteran's current conditions are not related to his military service.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for a low back disability and an increased rating for his acquired psychiatric disorder. The Board found that there was no evidence linking the current disabilities to military service.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected low back disability alone does not prevent him from securing and following a substantially gainful occupation.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for sleep apnea and acquired psychiatric disorder (including PTSD) due to insufficient evidence of record. The Veteran is required to undergo VA examinations to determine if his conditions are related to service.
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