The Veteran's service connection claim for obstructive sleep apnea is granted. The claims for residuals of a low back injury and right wrist injury are remanded.
The deciding factor: The Board found the Veteran’s testimony credible, establishing continuity of symptomatology from service to present day, which places the evidence in equipoise with his current diagnosis of sleep apnea.
- Claimed conditions
- obstructive sleep apnea (sleep apnea), residuals of a low back injury, to include lumbar strain, residuals of a right wrist injury
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 27, 2021
- Citation
- 21024941
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 21024941.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
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 remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection and evaluation of obstructive sleep apnea and asbestosis with COPD due to duty to assist errors, inadequate examinations, and other procedural issues.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for obstructive sleep apnea, left hip pain, and right foot pain due to potential errors in pre-decisional duty to assist. The Veteran is presumed sound at the time of her entrance into active service, so any pre-existing conditions must be disregarded. An addendum opinion is needed regarding whether these conditions are related to service or service-connected conditions.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's current sleep apnea disability is at least as likely as not caused by his service-connected chronic sinusitis, and thus grants entitlement to service connection for sleep apnea as secondary to chronic sinusitis.
- Granted
The Veteran's initial 10 percent rating for migraines is granted, while a compensable rating for bilateral hearing loss is denied. Service connection is granted for pes planus, but not for degenerative disease of the lumbar spine, bilateral knee pain, hypertension, GERD, or sleep apnea and generalized anxiety disorder.
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