The veteran's appeal is being remanded for additional development, including obtaining medical records and scheduling examinations to rate his service-connected back disability and any psychiatric disorder. The issues of increased rating, service connection, and TDIU will be reconsidered after the additional development.
The deciding factor: The case requires further investigation due to changes in the veteran's condition since the last examination and potential for an extraschedular consideration based on his employment status.
- Claimed conditions
- degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine, psychiatric disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 19, 2007
- Citation
- 0708142
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 0708142.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's hypertension, left knee patellofemoral syndrome, and right knee patellofemoral syndrome have been granted service connection as secondary to his service-connected disabilities. The lumbar spine disability has also been granted but the effective date is not specified.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claims for increased evaluations and SMC based on housebound status and aid and attendance, with the initial decisions being in February and June 2023. The appellant is eligible to attorney fees based on past-due benefits awarded in September 2024.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeal for service connection of psychiatric disorder. Service connection was granted for heart condition, throat condition, and hypertension due to herbicide exposure in Japan. Diabetes condition is denied as there is no evidence of treatment or diagnosis.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection and increased rating for various conditions, including allergic rhinitis, sleep apnea, degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine, lower extremity radiculopathies, and left lower extremity radiculopathy with foot drop. The issues include determining if these conditions are related to service or other factors.
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