The Veteran's claims for service connection for hypertension, left knee disability, right knee disability, and obstructive sleep apnea have been denied. The claim for hypertension is not reopened due to lack of new and material evidence. Claims for left and right knee disabilities are reopened based on the receipt of new evidence. Service connection for obstructive sleep apnea is also reopened.,The Veteran's lumbar spine disability remains rated at 10 percent, with a remand required to issue an SSOC.
The deciding factor: The preponderance of the evidence does not support service connection for hypertension as secondary to his service-connected lumbar spine disability. The Board finds that there is no competent medical evidence linking the Veteran's obstructive sleep apnea to his service-connected lumbar spine disability or nonservice-connected bilateral knee disabilities.,There is insufficient evidence to establish a direct link between the Veteran's current lumbar spine disability and his military service.
- Claimed conditions
- Hypertension, Left Knee Disability, Right Knee Disability, Obstructive Sleep Apnea
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 28, 2020
- Citation
- 20069822
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,455 · 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 20069822.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected knee disabilities are rated at 10% each, and the Board finds that higher ratings are not warranted based on the evidence of record.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's bilateral knee disabilities are not related to his active service, and thus denied both claims for service connection.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection of a right knee disability, finding that there is no evidence to support an etiological relationship between his current condition and his military service.
- Denied
The Veteran's left knee disability is currently rated at 30 percent, and the Board finds no evidence of clear and unmistakable error in assigning an effective date of June 19, 2002.
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