The Board has granted restoration of a 40 percent evaluation for the service-connected low back disorder, but the remaining issue is to determine if an original evaluation in excess of 40 percent should be granted for the period since August 1, 1995.
The deciding factor: Additional evidentiary development is necessary to properly assess whether there has been material improvement in the appellant's low back disability under the ordinary conditions of life and work.
- Claimed conditions
- Low back disorder (classified as low back strain with spinal stenosis, spondylosis, and scoliosis)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 30, 2004
- Citation
- 0417585
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 0417585.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 40 percent evaluation for sciatic nerve radiculopathy of the right and left lower extremities, a 30 percent evaluation for femoral nerve radiculopathy of the right and left lower extremities, and a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU), but denied an increased evaluation in excess of 40 percent for spinal stenosis and lumbar intervertebral disc syndrome.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities from March 1, 2021, and an effective date of March 1, 2021, for eligibility for Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA) under 38 U.S.C. Chapter 35.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issues of entitlement to service connection for lumbosacral strain and spondylosis, as well as entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU), due to an inadequate VA examination.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim for service connection for scoliosis and found that the reduction in the combined disability rating for bulging discs in the lumbar spine, lumbosacral strain, degenerative arthritis of the spine, and spondylosis from 40 percent to 10 percent was proper.
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