The Board has granted a higher initial rating of 40 percent for the veteran's service-connected degenerative joint disease of the lumbar spine, effective from August 15, 2001.
The deciding factor: The medical evidence showed that the veteran had significant spinal stenosis and degenerative changes in his lumbar spine, which resulted in a higher rating under the old schedule for evaluating spine disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- degenerative joint disease of the lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 40%
- Decision date
- March 22, 2006
- Citation
- 0608220
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,613 · Granted: 30% (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 0608220.
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.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's lumbar spine arthritis is aggravated by his service-connected bilateral knee disabilities, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to incomplete development of records and will provide a supplemental statement of the case if necessary.
- Granted
The Veteran's low back disability was rated at 40% prior to September 28, 2018. From that date, the rating was increased to 50%. The earlier effective date for TDIU is denied.
- Denied
The Veteran's appeal for a higher level of SMC was denied as he does not meet the criteria for any additional levels of SMC based on his service-connected disabilities.
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