The Board remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for obstructive sleep apnea because the AOJ failed in its statutory duty to assist when it provided an incomplete/insufficient VA medical opinion prior to the decision on appeal.
The deciding factor: The May 2024 VA medical opinion was inadequate as it did not provide a specific opinion regarding whether the Veteran's OSA increased in severity due to his service-connected PTSD (aggravation) and relied solely on generalized medical literature without considering the Veteran's specific conditions and causal connection, if any.
- Claimed conditions
- obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 22, 2025
- Citation
- A25091501
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