The Veteran's additional neurological disability, including right hemiparesis, spasticity, and bowel impairment, is determined to be the result of an event not reasonably foreseeable during his August 2004 cervical spine surgery at VA. The Board finds that this constitutes a direct service connection without any presumption or secondary linkage.
The deciding factor: The additional disability was due to an unforeseeable event during the surgical procedure, specifically the insertion of a METX guidewire too deeply, which caused spinal cord damage and subsequent neurological deficits.
- Claimed conditions
- right hemiparesis, spasticity, bowel impairment
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- September 19, 2011
- Citation
- 1134886
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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 1134886.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board allowed the benefit or issue identified in this decision. Review the original order: other issues in the same appeal may have a different outcome, and this decision does not predict another claim.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands several issues for further development, including service connection claims and increased rating claims for various disabilities.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for diabetes mellitus, various peripheral neuropathies, sleep disorder, erectile dysfunction, and other conditions were denied.,There was no evidence of herbicide exposure or service in Vietnam that would have triggered a presumption of exposure.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's claim for a separate disability rating for bowel impairment as a neurological manifestation of her service-connected lumbar spine disability was denied.,Her claims for higher ratings for right leg neuropathy prior to April 7, 2022, and since that date were also denied.,The Veteran's claim for TDIU prior to April 1, 2015, was denied.
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