The Veteran's claim for service connection for sleep apnea is denied as the evidence does not support a finding of complaints or symptoms related to sleep apnea during service.,The Veteran's claim for service connection for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is denied as the evidence does not support a finding of complaints or symptoms related to GERD during service.
The deciding factor: There are no STRs documenting complaints, symptoms, diagnosis, or treatment for sleep apnea or GERD. The Veteran's wife and representative claim that the conditions are due to exposure in service, but they lack medical training and cannot provide a competent opinion on etiology.,The Veteran was first diagnosed with GERD approximately 36 years after service discharge, which tends to establish that the condition did not have its onset during service.
- Claimed conditions
- sleep apnea, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 30, 2019
- Citation
- 19196746
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,911 · Granted: 10% (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 19196746.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for sleep apnea, finding that there was no evidence of a chronic disease manifesting within one year after service and concluding that the current disability is not related to his in-service deviated septum.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for additional development regarding the Veteran's claim of service connection for sleep apnea. The Veteran will be provided with a VA examination to determine if his current sleep disorder is related to his military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the issue of service connection for sleep apnea due to insufficient medical opinions and need for further development.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including right shoulder disability, abdominal hernia, GERD, bilateral ankle disabilities, and bilateral foot disabilities. The evidence did not support a finding that these conditions were incurred or aggravated during the appellant's period of active duty.
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