The veteran's claim for service connection for a low back disability is being remanded due to unclear status of previous decisions and the need for compliance with VCAA notice and assistance requirements.
The deciding factor: There are conflicting rating decision dates that need clarification, as well as potential issues related to VCAA notification and assistance.
- Claimed conditions
- degenerative disc disease of the spine, arthritis of the low back
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 12, 2004
- Citation
- 0412350
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,514 · Granted: 19% (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 0412350.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims of service connection for various conditions including bilateral shoulder arthritis, bilateral hearing loss, neck pain, arthritis of the low back, and right hand arthritis due to inconsistencies in his statements regarding the onset and chronicity of symptoms.
- Denied
The appeal for an earlier effective date for the award of a TDIU was denied.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for tinnitus and remanded the claims for an acquired psychiatric disability, a sleep disorder, type two diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, vertigo, hypertension, migraine headaches, arthritis of various joints, and kidney disease.
- Granted
Service connection for degenerative disc disease of the spine is granted. The evidence was in approximate balance, but the veteran received the benefit of the doubt.
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