The Veteran's sleep apnea is granted as service-connected. The Board has remanded for further development regarding his right shoulder, hip, and knee disabilities due to potential Reserve service exposure.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found no current right shoulder or hip disability related to the Veteran's active service but noted a possible connection to Reserve service based on his testimony and medical records from that period.
- Claimed conditions
- Sleep Apnea, Right Shoulder Disability, Right Hip Disability, Bilateral Lower Extremity Varicose Veins, Right Knee Degenerative Arthritis with Scar, Right Knee Instability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 12, 2021
- Citation
- 21062907
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,030 · Granted: 17% (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 21062907.
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 Veteran's service-connected knee disabilities have been rated and denied for increased ratings, with some conditions receiving specific disability ratings. The Veteran is granted a 60% rating for her total right knee replacement from September 4, 2015 onwards, but the other claims are denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The claims for service connection for right and left shoulder disabilities are remanded. The claim for sleep disorder (claimed as sleep apnea) remains denied.
- 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.
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