The Board found that the veteran's current back disorder developed many years after service and is not shown to have been caused by any incident of service. Therefore, the claim for service connection was denied.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner concluded that the veteran's current low back disabilities are less likely than not related to his active duty service.
- Claimed conditions
- post-operative residuals of a spinal fusion at L4-S1, moderate degenerative disc disease of the lumbosacral spine, lumbar spondylolisthesis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 1, 2008
- Citation
- 0833793
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 0833793.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew her appeal of all claims currently pending before the Board, including those for an earlier effective date for hypothyroidism and higher ratings for various conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for an increased evaluation of lumbar spondylolisthesis due to an inadequate VA examination.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's migraine headaches with vasovagal pre-syncope were granted a 50 percent rating, while the claims for increased ratings and earlier effective dates for other conditions were denied or remanded.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for lumbar spondylolisthesis and bilateral ankle dermatitis, restored the ratings for left knee limitation of extension, left ankle degenerative joint disease (DJD), and right ankle DJD, and denied service connection for sinusitis, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), a right 5th finger scar, increased ratings for left knee flexion and extension, and rhinitis.
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