The Board granted service connection for a respiratory disability, resolving doubt in favor of the Veteran. The other claims were remanded for further development.
The deciding factor: The evidence was at least in equipoise regarding the Veteran's respiratory disability and direct service connection was warranted. For the other claims, VA's duty to obtain adequate medical opinions that consider whether the disabilities are secondary to the now service-connected respiratory disability has been triggered.
- Claimed conditions
- Acquired psychiatric disability, to include anxiety, Congestive heart failure, Diabetes mellitus, type II, Esophageal disability, Eye disability, to include color blindness, Hypertension, Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) due to non-ischemic cardiomyopathy, Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), Respiratory disability, to include bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and an acute respiratory disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 14, 2025
- Citation
- 25013995
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 907 · 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 25013995.
What this means for you
A partial grant means some issues were granted while others were denied or remanded — common in multi-issue claims. Look at which issues went which way, and how each was argued.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim of service connection for hypertension, finding that it did not manifest during service and is not causally related to the Veteran's exposure to herbicides or service.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for hypertension, finding that there was no evidence of a nexus between his current condition and active duty service or herbicide exposure.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for hypertension and has remanded the issue of an increased rating for skin condition.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), finding that both conditions are secondary to the Veteran's service-connected lower back condition and sinusitis, respectively.
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