The Board remands the claim for service connection for obstructive sleep apnea due to a duty to assist error, specifically an inaccurate opinion based on incorrect facts.
The deciding factor: A remand is required due to deficiencies in the October 2023 VA examiner's opinion regarding the Veteran's marijuana use and potential toxic exposure, necessitating a new examination.
- Claimed conditions
- obstructive sleep apnea (claimed as sleep apnea)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 6, 2025
- Citation
- A25020584
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 945 · Granted: 43% (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 A25020584.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for an effective date prior to September 13, 2019 and initial rating in excess of 10 percent for bilateral tinnitus are denied as the earliest possible effective date is September 13, 2019.,The Veteran's claim for service connection for obstructive sleep apnea (claimed as sleep apnea) is denied due to lack of evidence linking it to his military service.
- Dismissed
The appeal for service connection for various conditions was dismissed due to the Veteran's death.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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