The appeal is remanded for further development, including an examination to determine the etiology of the veteran's lumbar degenerative disease.
The deciding factor: Further development is necessary due to the lack of a medical opinion addressing the etiology of the back disorder and to reconcile evidence from Dr. Collier with service treatment records.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative disease of the lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 23, 2009
- Citation
- 0902362
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 granted service connection for multiple conditions, including degenerative diseases of the cervical and lumbar spine, radiculopathies affecting various extremities, OSA, hepatic steatosis, and supraventricular arrhythmia.
- Granted
The Veteran's lumbar spine disability is rated at 10 percent for the period prior to August 6, 2019 and a rating of 40 percent is granted thereafter. Separate ratings are also granted for left and right lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases due to inadequate VA examinations and requests for new evaluations.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for an increased rating for her degenerative disease of the lumbar spine was denied. For the period prior to August 21, 2020, she is rated at 10 percent and for the period from August 21, 2020, she is rated at 20 percent.
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