The Board remands the service connection claims for an acquired psychiatric disorder, OSA, and a right knee condition due to inadequate medical opinions.
The deciding factor: The December 2021 VA examiner's opinion is found to be inadequate as it did not acknowledge relevant in-service experiences or other evidence that could support a link between the Veteran's current conditions and his service.
- Claimed conditions
- Acquired psychiatric disorder, to include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder, Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), Right knee condition
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 31, 2024
- Citation
- A24070656
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.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, finding a causal relationship between the condition and an in-service incident of military sexual trauma (MST).
- Denied
The appeal for higher ratings and effective dates for various conditions was denied, with the exception of left and right lower extremity radiculopathy which were granted an earlier effective date.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the issue of entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date of May 29, 2019 for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder but denied earlier effective dates and increased ratings for other conditions.
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