Citation Nr: 18161332
Decision Date: 12/31/18	Archive Date: 12/31/18

DOCKET NO. 16-57 307
DATE:	December 31, 2018

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for obstructive sleep apnea is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served honorably on active duty in the United States Navy from July 1974 to July 1979.  This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) from a February 2015 rating decision issued by a Regional Office (RO) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Entitlement to service connection for obstructive sleep apnea is remanded.

While the Veteran’s service treatment records do not appear to contain any contemporaneous reports of sleep or apnea-related symptoms, he submitted a buddy statement from a fellow servicemember in March 2015 which indicates that the Veteran snored significantly while serving on active duty.  Given the competent evidence of a current diagnosis of sleep apnea and the suggestion that this disability may be related to those competent reports of in-service snoring, the Board finds that it must remand this matter to afford the Veteran a medical examination to obtain evidence as to the likely etiology of his current sleep-related disability.  See McLendon v. Nicholson, 20 Vet. App. 79 (2006).

The matter is REMANDED for the following action:

1. Schedule the Veteran for an examination by an appropriate clinician to obtain medical evidence as to the nature and etiology of his obstructive sleep apnea.  The examiner must opine whether it is at least as likely as not related to an in-service injury, event, or disease, including the competent reports of significant in-service snoring.

 

MATTHEW TENNER

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	B. Whitelaw, Associate Counsel