The Veteran's right shoulder, lumbar and thoracic spine, left ankle, OSA, and hypertension conditions were denied as service connection due to lack of evidence linking these conditions to his military service.,Service connection was remanded for TBI, GERD, and traumatic brain injury (TBI).
The deciding factor: The Veteran's STRs did not document any incidents or diagnoses related to the claimed conditions. The medical records from Reserve service also lacked documentation of injuries or symptoms within one year post-service.
- Claimed conditions
- Right Shoulder Impingement, Degenerative Changes to the Lumbar Spine, Degenerative Changes to the Thoracic Spine, Left Ankle Disorder, Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), Hypertension
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 6, 2020
- Citation
- 20000876
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,500 · Granted: 29% (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 20000876.
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 the claim of service connection for hypertension, finding that it did not manifest during service and is not causally related to the Veteran's exposure to herbicides or service.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for hypertension, finding that there was no evidence of a nexus between his current condition and active duty service or herbicide exposure.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for hypertension and has remanded the issue of an increased rating for skin condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims of entitlement to service connection for vertigo and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error. The Veteran's hearing loss is not rated higher than 10 percent.
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