Citation Nr: 21023430
Decision Date: 04/20/21	Archive Date: 04/20/21

DOCKET NO. 15-18 208
DATE: April 20, 2021

REMANDED

Service connection for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

REASONS FOR REMAND

Further development is needed to adjudicate the appeal.  An October 2019 VA medical opinion was adequate as to secondary service connection and was supported by a well-reasoned rationale; however, as to direct service connection, the clinician partially predicated the opinion on the lack of complaints, symptoms, or diagnoses of OSA or any sleep disturbance condition and/or residuals in service.  

The clinician found that the Veteran’s May 1984 complaints of tiredness were isolated and potentially related to medication and acknowledged the subjective reports of problems sleeping, gasping for air, wheezing, and feeling fatigued during service, but found no corroborative objective medical evidence to support this.  

A portion of the STRs spanning 24 years of service were lost or destroyed.  As such, to the extent his complaints of symptoms were lay observable, the Veteran’s recollection should be treated as credible and given additional probative weight.  Therefore, the clinician is asked to consider that the statements were accurate, notwithstanding an absence of in-service complaints. 

Finally, the appellant has been properly substituted for this appeal; however, after the substitution was effective, the RO sent the supplemental statement of the case (SSOC) to the deceased Veteran’s address, and it was returned undeliverable.  As such, an attempt should be made to update the appellant’s address. 

The matter is REMANDED for the following actions:

1.  Send a copy of the January 2021 supplemental statement of the case to the appellant and update the address as needed.

2.  Direct the claims file to a clinician to address the following:

•	Is it at least as likely as not (50 percent or greater probability) that the Veteran’s OSA was incurred in service?

The clinician should accept as true that the Veteran’s experienced problems sleeping, gasping for air, wheezing, and feeling fatigued during service in rendering a medical opinion.

 

 

L. HOWELL

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	Brendan A. Evans, Associate Counsel

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 This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.