Citation Nr: 20003121 Decision Date: 01/14/20 Archive Date: 01/14/20 DOCKET NO. 16-00 510 DATE: January 14, 2020 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for sleep apnea is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served from April 1986 to July 1986 and in November 1990. In July 2016, the Veteran testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge at a Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) hearing in Fort Harrison, Montana. A transcript of the proceeding is of record. By way of history, in a November 2018 decision, the Board split the Veteran’s claim of entitlement to service connection for “psychological condition (sleep disorder with anxiety)” in to two claims, sleep apnea and sleeping disorder with anxiety. The sleep disorder with anxiety claim was recharacterized broadly as a sleeping disability, to include insomnia. Entitlement to service connection for insomnia was granted. Entitlement to service connection for sleep apnea was remanded. 1. Entitlement to service connection for sleep apnea is remanded. The Board remanded the Veteran’s sleep apnea claim in order to obtain outstanding medical records and three medical opinions. The Board’s remand directives have not been substantially complied with. At his hearing, the Veteran testified he “was sleeping perfectly fine” before he went to Saudi Arabia. He further testified that since serving in the Persian Gulf “[t]hings just got progressively worse as time went on” and that his “sleep issues really came on around 2005”. See July 2016 hearing testimony, page 20. The Veteran was diagnosed with moderate obstructive sleep apnea syndrome in August 2005. See August 30, 2005 sleep study report (received May 24, 2019 with Social Security Administration records, pages 155-56) The Board sought an examination and opinions on whether the Veteran’s sleep apnea was due to service, due to a service connected disease or injury, or aggravated by a service connected disease or injury. The Veteran attended a sleep apnea examination in June 2019. However, the examiner only opined whether the Veteran’s sleep apnea was due to service connect disease or injury. The examiner did not opine whether the Veteran’s sleep apnea was directly due to service or aggravated by service connected disease or injury. A remand by the Board confers on an appellant, as a matter of law, the right to compliance with the terms of the remand order and imposes upon VA a concomitant duty to ensure compliance with those terms. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998). In light of the above, remand is warranted to ensure compliance with the Board’s remand. The rating decisions in this case note service in 1986 as active duty. However, the period of service appears to be ACDUTRA. The DD-214 on file is not an appropriate version as the reason for discharge is not noted. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain an addendum opinion from an appropriate clinician regarding whether the Veteran’s sleep apnea is at least as likely as not related to an in-service injury or disease. 2. Obtain an addendum opinion from an appropriate clinician regarding whether the Veteran’s sleep apnea is at least as likely as not aggravated by service connected disease or injury. 3. Obtain an appropriate version of the 1986 DD-214. The document should include the version that establishes the reason for discharge (active duty or ACDUTRA). In the alternative, appropriate personnel records may be obtained. H. N. SCHWARTZ Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Gregory T. Shannon The Board’s decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential, and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.