The Board grants the Veteran's claims of entitlement to service connection for his lumbar spine, left knee, and obstructive sleep apnea disabilities as secondary to his service-connected right knee disability.
The deciding factor: The evidence is at least in approximate equipoise as to whether the Veteran's current lower back, left knee, and obstructive sleep apnea disabilities were proximately caused or aggravated by his service-connected right knee disability with obesity acting as an intermediary.
- Claimed conditions
- lower back condition (degenerative disc disease with degenerative arthritis and bilateral radiculopathy of the lumbar spine), left knee strain, obstructive sleep apnea
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- October 8, 2024
- Citation
- A24064123
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,614 · Granted: 35% (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 A24064123.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for obstructive sleep apnea, finding that there is no competent evidence to support a finding that his current condition began in or as a result of service.
- Denied
The Board of Veterans' Appeals (BVA) has denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for obstructive sleep apnea as there is no current diagnosis of this condition during the appeal period.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for obstructive sleep apnea, peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper extremities, and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral lower extremities, finding that there was no evidence linking these conditions to his active service or any related exposure.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for hypertension and obstructive sleep apnea, finding that the evidence did not support a direct relationship to service or toxic exposure. The Veteran's claims were based on his participation in TERA activities during service.
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