The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for additional development, including obtaining VA treatment records and scheduling the Veteran with a new neurological and orthopedic examination to assess his spine and sciatica.
The deciding factor: The Veteran has claimed that his service-connected lumbar spine disability and sciatica have worsened since his last VA examination. The Board finds this sufficient reason to remand for further evaluation.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative changes of the lumbar spine, Sciatica of the left lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 5, 2014
- Citation
- 1409197
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 1409197.
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 Board has remanded the claim of service connection for a thoracolumbar spine disability, finding that the VA examination and opinion were inadequate as they did not consider the Veteran's complete medical history. The case is now to be reviewed with an addendum VA opinion.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal was dismissed because the Board Appeal request was not timely filed with respect to the June 14, 2023 rating decision that decreased the rating for degenerative changes of the lumbar spine to 20 percent effective September 1, 2023.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for a low back disability and sciatica of both lower extremities, to include as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected foot and knee disabilities, due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a lumbar spine disability and an acquired psychiatric disability, but remanded the issue of entitlement to service connection for tinnitus.
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