The Board found that the current disability of the lumbar spine, degenerative disc disease, was not shown to have had onset during service and is unrelated to an injury in service. As a result, the claim for service connection for residuals of an injury of the lumbar spine was denied.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner expressed the opinion that it was less likely as not that the current low back problem was related to the history in 1979 when the Veteran was kicked in the lower back during service.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of an injury of the lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 29, 2013
- Citation
- 1339334
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 1339334.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for further development due to inadequate medical opinions regarding service connection for cervical and lumbar spine disabilities.
- Remanded (sent back)
The veteran's appeal is being remanded to the RO for scheduling a videoconference hearing at the local VA office.
- Denied
The veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for the grant of service connection for residuals of a back injury was denied.,The veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for the award of total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities was also denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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