The Board has reopened the Veteran's claim for service connection for sleep apnea and granted it, finding that there is at least equipoise evidence to support a finding that his sleep apnea began during his time in service.
The deciding factor: The Board found that new evidence submitted by the Veteran, including two buddy statements from fellow servicemembers who reported hearing him snore excessively and stop breathing while sleeping, raised a reasonable possibility of substantiating the claim for service connection. The Board also noted that the Veteran's sleep apnea was diagnosed more than one year after his separation from service.
- Claimed conditions
- sleep apnea
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 9, 2020
- Citation
- 20001688
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,669 · Granted: 23% (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 20001688.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his appeal regarding the claims for sleep apnea and an increased disability rating for diabetes mellitus, type II.
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