The Board has determined that the April 2018 VA examination and opinion are inadequate, as they did not consider relevant treatise evidence. The Veteran's sleep apnea may be related to his HIV, but further medical evaluation is needed to determine if it was caused or aggravated by his service-connected condition.
The deciding factor: The Board found the April 2018 VA examiner's opinion inadequate due to its failure to consider relevant treatise evidence and because of a lack of knowledge in infectious disease, immunology, or virology necessary for an expert medical nexus opinion.
- Claimed conditions
- Sleep Apnea, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 3, 2021
- Citation
- 21026722
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 21026722.
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 service connection for sleep apnea, finding that the evidence did not support a link between the condition and service.
- Denied
The claims for PTSD, an acquired psychiatric disorder, memory loss/memory problems, chronic fatigue, sleep difficulties/sleep disturbances, and sleep apnea have been denied. The claim for service connection for residuals of testicular denervation and varicosectomy has been granted.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for treatment purposes only for PTSD and remanded the claim of service connection for treatment purposes only for HIV.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's asthma is currently rated at 30 percent, and the Board finds that a higher rating is not warranted.,The Veteran's sleep apnea claim has been remanded due to duty-to-assist errors.
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