The case is remanded for additional development, including the issuance of an SOC and obtaining any recent treatment records from the Jackson, Mississippi VAMC.
The deciding factor: The RO/AMC must issue an SOC for the back condition/degenerative disc disease claim and obtain any relevant medical records to fully adjudicate the claims on appeal.
- Claimed conditions
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Bilateral hearing loss, Residuals, shell fragment wounds, back, Degenerative disc disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 5, 2008
- Citation
- 0814830
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,035 · 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 0814830.
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's low back disability is currently rated at 20 percent, and the claim for a higher rating is denied. The left shoulder disability is also rated at 20 percent, but there are no incapacitating episodes to warrant a higher rating under the IVDS Formula. The TDIU claim is remanded.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for a low back disorder was reopened, and his claims for increased ratings of bilateral knee instability were granted. His hearing loss claim was denied.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for an effective date prior to December 27, 2019 for the grant of service connection for PTSD was denied as there is no earlier claim document in the claims file and the Veteran did not timely perfect an appeal.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeals of the initial ratings for his service-connected chronic cough and bilateral hearing loss are remanded due to procedural errors in the evidentiary record.
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