The Veteran's appeal is being remanded due to inadequate medical evidence for a fully informed decision regarding his claim of entitlement to an increased disability rating for his service-connected low back injury with degenerative changes.
The deciding factor: The current VA examination report is unclear and internally inconsistent, requiring further development through additional medical opinion.
- Claimed conditions
- low back injury with degenerative changes
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 17, 2012
- Citation
- 1228378
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 1228378.
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 Veteran's service-connected low back injury with degenerative changes and left lower extremity radiculopathy rendered him unable to obtain or maintain substantially gainful employment, leading to a grant of TDIU on an extraschedular basis.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected low back disability is rated at 40 percent, and the Board finds that an evaluation in excess of this rating is not warranted based on the evidence.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for service connection and initial evaluation of his right knee disability, bilateral hearing loss, and respiratory disorder are being remanded due to the need for additional examinations.
- Remanded (sent back)
The veteran's appeal is being remanded due to the need for additional VA examinations, treatment records retrieval, and review of his claims file. The issues include a request for an increased disability rating for his service-connected low back injury with degenerative changes and a claim for TDIU.
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