The Board has remanded four issues related to sleep apnea, bilateral hearing loss, degenerative arthritis of the right knee and hip, cervical spine disease, and lumbar spine disease due to inadequate opinions in the VA examinations. The Veteran's lay statements regarding symptoms during service are considered.
The deciding factor: The opinions relied on the absence of a current disability at separation from service without considering the Veteran’s lay statements about symptom onset during service.
- Claimed conditions
- Obstructive sleep apnea, Bilateral hearing loss, Degenerative arthritis, right knee, Degenerative arthritis, right hip, Degenerative disc disease of the cervical spine, Spinal stenosis and degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 30, 2020
- Citation
- 20008121
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 claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss, as there was no evidence of a current disability in the right ear and insufficient evidence to establish a nexus between the left ear hearing loss and service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter for a medical clarification regarding whether the Veteran's service-connected epilepsy has aggravated his bilateral hearing loss.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss to obtain an addendum opinion addressing the Veteran's lay statements regarding in-service acoustic trauma and a rocket blast injury.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date of May 17, 2019, for a 70 percent disability rating for PTSD but denied earlier effective dates for service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus.
We are not the VA. Veterans’ Rights is an independent resource built for veterans. We are not the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, not part of the government, and not endorsed by any government agency.
This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.