The Board denied service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to a lack of corroborated in-service stressors and no diagnosis of PTSD based on verified stressor. The claim for obstructive sleep apnea was remanded for further development.
The deciding factor: There is no competent and credible evidence corroborating the Veteran's claimed in-service stressors, and he does not have a diagnosis of PTSD based on a verified in-service stressor. For obstructive sleep apnea, the VA medical opinions were inadequate as they relied solely on the lack of diagnoses during active service without providing supporting rationale.
- Claimed conditions
- Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Obstructive sleep apnea
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 9, 2024
- Citation
- 24001406
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for PTSD, resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor and finding that his PTSD is related to an in-service military sexual trauma (MST) during a period of ACDUTRA.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date of May 17, 2019, for a 70 percent disability rating for PTSD but denied earlier effective dates for service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus.
- Partly granted
The Board granted readjudication of previously denied claims for service connection for PTSD and COPD, while remanding other issues including entitlement to service connection for an eye disorder, hypertension, tinnitus, a compensable rating for bilateral hearing loss, TDIU, and an initial rating for PTSD.
- Denied
The appeal for service connection for PTSD was dismissed, and the claims for a compensable rating for the lower back scar, service connection for COPD, and peripheral artery disease were denied.
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