The Board granted service connection for multilevel DDD of the lumbar spine with a 40 percent rating effective August 11, 2011. The Veteran's right foot numbness was found to be analogous to radiculopathy and rated accordingly.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's symptoms were found to be consistent with radiculopathy of the left lower extremity due to his service-connected lumbar spine disability.
- Claimed conditions
- multilevel degenerative disc disease (DDD) of the lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 40%
- Decision date
- July 13, 2015
- Citation
- 1529767
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 1529767.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for multilevel degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine, finding that the evidence is at least evenly balanced as to whether it was related to active duty service. The decision resolves reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran.
- Denied
The Veteran's initial claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss was denied, and his appeal for an increased rating for the same condition was also denied. The Board found that there is no evidence of a current disability related to service.,Service connection for lumbar spine DDD was denied as the Veteran did not provide sufficient evidence to establish a link between his current condition and active service.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected conditions did not cause or contribute to his death. The claim for service connection for the cause of death is denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased disability ratings are being remanded to allow for additional development of the record, including obtaining VA treatment records and affording the Veteran's representative an opportunity to review the case.
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