The Board remands all issues on appeal for further development, including obtaining additional medical opinions and ensuring compliance with prior remand directives.
The deciding factor: Remand is necessary to obtain records in Federal custody and ensure substantial compliance with the Board's prior remand directives.
- Claimed conditions
- Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Central Sleep Apnea, Acquired Psychiatric Disorder (Major Depressive Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), Cervical Spine Disability, Cervical Spine Fusion Scar, Right Upper Extremity Disability (Cervical Myelopathy and Radiculopathy), Left Upper Extremity Disability (Cervical Myelopathy and Radiculopathy), Left Shoulder Disorder Disability, Right Shoulder Disorder Disability, Thoracolumbar Spine Disability, Right Lower Extremity Disability (Sciatic Radiculopathy), Left Lower Extremity Disability (Sciatic Radiculopathy), Right Hip Disorder, Left Hip Disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 1, 2025
- Citation
- 25004387
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 various disabilities and denied higher ratings for several service-connected conditions.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for obstructive sleep apnea as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected psychiatric disorders, lumbar and cervical spine disabilities, bilateral radiculopathy of the upper extremities, and bilateral radiculopathy and neuropathy of the lower extremities.
- Denied
The Board denied a rating in excess of 50 percent for PTSD, finding that the Veteran's symptoms more closely approximated those associated with a 50 percent rating.
- Partly granted
The appeal for entitlement to service connection for obstructive sleep apnea was granted, while other appeals were dismissed as untimely and remanded for further action on essential tremors.
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