The Veteran's service-connected lumbar spine disability and radiculopathy of the right lower extremity preclude him from obtaining and maintaining any form of gainful employment.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's severe chronic low back pain, radiation into the right buttocks and leg, and numbness in the right great toe, along with his inability to perform physical labor or prolonged standing, render him unable to secure and maintain substantially gainful employment.
- Claimed conditions
- status-post hemilaminectomy with debridement and degenerative changes of the lumbar spine, rheiculopathy of the right lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 40%
- Decision date
- October 29, 2015
- Citation
- 1546048
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 1546048.
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 Veteran's service-connected disabilities, including her lumbosacral degenerative disc disease and right foot injury, have rendered her unable to secure or maintain substantially gainful employment for the appeal period prior to April 22, 2013.
- Denied
The Board denied referral for extraschedular consideration of the Veteran's service-connected lumbar spine disability and right lower extremity radiculopathy, finding that the available schedular evaluations adequately accounted for his symptoms.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for low back degenerative disc disease and radiculopathy of the right lower extremity as secondary to a low back disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded several issues including service connection for a trachea disorder, increased ratings for various disabilities, and the issue of entitlement to TDIU. The effective dates for granting service connection are denied.
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