The Board has denied a compensable rating for GERD and remanded the issue of increasing the rating for obstructive sleep apnea due to insufficient medical evidence establishing a baseline level of severity.
The deciding factor: No adequate medical opinion provided a baseline level of severity for the Veteran's obstructive sleep apnea, necessary for determining if there has been aggravation or increase in severity from service-connected PTSD.
- Claimed conditions
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), Obstructive sleep apnea
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 5, 2020
- Citation
- A20015184
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 matters for additional development, including obtaining private treatment records and conducting VA examinations.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, chronic rhinitis, and obstructive sleep apnea. The headache claim was remanded for further examination.
- Partly granted
The appeal was denied for service connection of a cervical spine disorder, and several claims were remanded for further development.
- Partly granted
The Board denied the claims for an initial compensable rating for left ear sensorineural hearing loss, service connection for a right ear hearing loss disability, and a left eye disorder. However, it granted service connection for a back disability and radiculopathy of both lower extremities as secondary to the back disability.
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