The appeal is remanded for additional development, including an examination and opinion from a physician regarding the etiology of any mid-upper low back pathology.
The deciding factor: Further development is necessary to determine the nature and etiology of the claimed conditions before a decision can be made on the merits.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of injury, mid-upper low back, arthritis, cervical spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 30, 2009
- Citation
- 0903442
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,642 · Granted: 19% (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 0903442.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal for higher evaluations for his cervical and thoracolumbar spine conditions has been remanded due to the need for additional medical opinions regarding the severity of his spinal conditions, particularly during flare-ups.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the Veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions, including left hand injury, right hand injury, arthritis of cervical and lumbar spine, involuntary bowel movement, involuntary urinary discharge, burns to feet, PTSD, and diabetes mellitus. The diabetes mellitus claim was granted as presumptively related to herbicide exposure in Thailand.
- Denied
The Veteran's cervical spine disability was not found to be related to service, and the claim for diabetes mellitus was denied. The Board is remanding the case for further development regarding possible Agent Orange exposure in the Philippines.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for additional development, including obtaining records from his place of employment and reviewing service treatment records. The Veteran is also asked to submit an original letter dated July 1961.
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