The veteran's claim for an increased disability rating for the residuals of a cervical spine injury is being remanded to allow for further development, including obtaining medical records and scheduling a VA examination.
The deciding factor: The case has been returned to the RO due to new evidence and changes in rating criteria that need to be considered.
- Claimed conditions
- discogenic disease of the cervical spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 21, 2003
- Citation
- 0309532
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,464 · Granted: 14% (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 0309532.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's headaches are found to be proximately due to her service-connected cervical spine discogenic disease, and thus she is granted service connection for this condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran seeks an increased rating for his cervical spine disability and a TDIU. The case is being remanded to obtain updated VA treatment records, schedule the Veteran with a VA examination, and consider whether he is unemployable due to his service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The veteran's claim for special monthly pension based on need for regular aid and attendance or being housebound was denied due to his current disability rating of 100% for schizophrenia, which does not meet the criteria for additional disabilities independently ratable at 60%, nor is he substantially confined to his home.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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