The Board granted service connection for sleep apnea with sleep disturbance, secondary to the Veteran's service-connected lumbar strain, residuals fractured right foot and bilateral shin splints, with obesity as an intermediary step.
The deciding factor: The private medical opinions of Drs. G.U. and Z.M., which provided thorough explanations and supportive medical literature, were found to be the most persuasive in establishing a causal relationship between the Veteran's service-connected conditions and her sleep apnea, including through the intermediate step of obesity.
- Claimed conditions
- sleep apnea with sleep disturbance
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 15, 2025
- Citation
- A25044111
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,035 · Granted: 30% (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 A25044111.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that new and relevant evidence has been submitted to reconsider the claim of service connection for sleep apnea with sleep disturbance. The case is being remanded due to a duty-to-assist error regarding whether the Veteran's sleep apnea is aggravated by his cervical spine disability.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the veteran does not have diagnoses of certain conditions, and there is no competent medical evidence linking his military service to any current disabilities. Therefore, these claims for service connection are denied.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's headaches are at least as likely as not caused by his service-connected traumatic brain injury, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hypertension and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology.
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