The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to insufficient development and lack of adequate medical opinions regarding pre-existing conditions. The issues include sleep apnea syndrome, bilateral knee condition, hemorrhoids, and an initial compensable rating for colon polyps.
The deciding factor: The VA medical opinions are inadequate as they do not provide clear and unmistakable evidence of pre-existence and aggravation of the Veteran's claimed conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- sleep apnea syndrome, bilateral knee disability, hemorrhoids, colon polyps
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 16, 2020
- Citation
- 20004062
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the service connection claim for a bilateral knee disability to correct a pre-decisional duty to assist error, including scheduling an additional VA examination.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeals for service connection for a bilateral knee disability, bilateral upper and lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, lumbar spine disability, cervical spine disability, and chronic pain syndrome due to untimely notices of disagreement.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for hemorrhoids due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error, requiring an additional direct medical opinion.
- Granted
The Board granted a 10 percent rating for hemorrhoids, which fully satisfies the Veteran's appeal.
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This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.