The Board has remanded the case for further development and consideration, including obtaining an addendum opinion from a VA examiner regarding the Veteran's sleep apnea disability.
The deciding factor: The July 2016 VA examination did not provide opinions on whether the Veteran’s sleep apnea is directly related to her active service or aggravated by her service-connected gastroesophageal reflux disease and hypertension, as required for decision-making purposes.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative disc disease (DDD), lumbar spine, Bilateral leg condition
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 16, 2020
- Citation
- 20004167
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 veteran's claims for an earlier effective date and service connection for sleep apnea, finding no clear and unmistakable error in the prior rating decisions and no evidence linking the sleep apnea to service or a service-connected disability.
- Granted
The veteran was granted a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to his service-connected disabilities.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss, a bilateral leg condition, and left lower extremity radiculopathy but granted service connection for right hip osteoarthritis as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected back disability.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an initial rating of 20 percent for left and right lower extremity radiculopathy, but remanded other claims related to obstructive sleep apnea, bladder condition, left knee disability, degenerative disc disease, bilateral hearing loss, and right shoulder disability.
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