The Board remands the issue of service connection for residuals of a low back injury to ensure that VA obtains a medical examination and opinion addressing whether the veteran's low back disability is related to his military service.
The deciding factor: There is evidence of an in-service event, current disability, and a possible association between the two, but insufficient competent medical evidence exists to make a decision on the claim. The Board must remand for additional development.
- Claimed conditions
- Residuals of a low back injury
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 2, 2009
- Citation
- 0900096
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 Board finds that the veteran's current back disability is more likely than not due to in-service manifestations and grants service connection.
- Partly granted
The veteran's service connection for residuals of a low back injury was granted, while the claims for an initial evaluation in excess of 30 percent for anxiety disorder with somatic features and for service connection for residuals of a hip injury were denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for residuals of a low back injury, as there was no evidence that his current chronic low back disorder was related to active duty.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board is remanding the claims for service connection for residuals of low back, left shoulder and neck injuries, as well as the claim for prostate cancer, due to an inadequate medical opinion from a previous VA examination.
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This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.