The Veteran's claims for service connection and increased ratings are remanded due to unclear pre-service status of his psychiatric disorders and sleep disorder, as well as the need for additional development regarding SSA disability benefits.
The deciding factor: The Board finds that further development is necessary to clarify the Veteran's pre-service status of his acquired psychiatric disorders and sleep disorder, including obtaining service treatment records and addressing whether any current conditions are related to service.
- Claimed conditions
- Acquired psychiatric disorder, to include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and stress depression, Sleep disorder, to include insomnia
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 18, 2020
- Citation
- 20074040
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 112 · Granted: 20% (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 20074040.
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 has determined that additional development is needed to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors in failing to provide VA examination or medical opinion for the Veteran's claims of service connection for obstructive sleep apnea and a sleep disorder, to include insomnia. The Veteran contends his conditions may be related to his duties as a Fire Protection Specialist during service.
- Granted
The Board granted an effective date of December 18, 2022, for the award of service connection for major depressive disorder (MDD), but no earlier.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a disability rating of 100 percent for the Veteran's service-connected generalized anxiety disorder and denied an increased rating greater than 10 percent for his sleep disorder, to include insomnia.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the Veteran's basal cell carcinoma, hypertension, and sleep disorder (including insomnia) are related to his service. However, due to insufficient evidence regarding the cause of these conditions, the case is being remanded for further examination and opinion.
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