The Board has determined that the submitted evidence is not new and material, thus preventing the reopening of the claim for service connection for residuals of a back injury.
The deciding factor: The provided evidence does not establish a direct link between the veteran's current degenerative changes of the spine and his military service or any incident therein.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative Changes of the Spine
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- April 11, 2006
- Citation
- 0610474
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,643 · Granted: 15% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0610474.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's claim for a higher rating for his lumbar spine disability and a compensable rating for his surgical scar associated with the lumbar surgery was denied. The Board found that the evidence did not meet the criteria for a higher rating under any applicable diagnostic codes.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Board has determined that the veteran's degenerative changes of the spine may be presumed to have been incurred in service due to his active duty deployment and manual labor duties.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to the need for additional development, including obtaining SSA records and providing proper notice regarding secondary service connection.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for PTSD was reopened due to the submission of new and material evidence. The appeal is granted as his PTSD is now considered service-connected.
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