The veteran's appeal is being remanded for further development, including a new VA examination and the acquisition of recent medical records. The issues on appeal are service connection for a sciatic nerve disability and an increased rating for lumbosacral strain with osteoarthritis.
The deciding factor: The case requires additional evidence to properly evaluate the veteran's current condition due to changes in VA regulations regarding spine disabilities, necessitating a new examination under the amended criteria.
- Claimed conditions
- sciatic nerve disability, lumbosacral strain with osteoarthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 31, 2006
- Citation
- 0602614
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 3,319 · Granted: 25% (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 0602614.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's claims for tinnitus and an acquired psychiatric disability were dismissed due to improper concurrent elections.,The Board found that the Veteran does not have a current diagnosis of back, sciatic nerve, right shoulder, foot, skin, left-hand, or right-hand disabilities. The claim for headaches was also denied.
- Dismissed
The Board of Veterans' Appeals dismissed the claims for service connection for skin fungus, chloracne, sciatic nerve disability, and a total disability based upon individual unemployability (TDIU) as a valid higher-level review request was received, and a decision was never issued under the Appeals Modernization Act.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board vacated its previous decision and remanded the appeal for further review of new evidence. The Veteran's claims for various conditions and ratings will be re-evaluated.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remanded the claim for an initial disability rating in excess of 20 percent for lumbosacral strain with osteoarthritis because the VA examinations were inadequate.
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