The Veteran's thoracolumbar spine disability is being remanded for additional development, including a VA examination to address the claim on a secondary basis. The issue of whether new and material evidence has been presented to reopen his sleep apnea claim is also being remanded.
The deciding factor: Additional medical opinion is needed regarding the relationship between the Veteran's thoracolumbar spine disability and his service-connected bilateral knee disorder, as well as development of the record for the sleep apnea issue.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative changes of the lumbar spine, Multilevel discogenic disease with evidence of disc protrusion involving the thoracic spine at the T10-T11 and lumbar spine at L3-L4, L4-L5 and L5-S1
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- November 6, 2015
- Citation
- 1547024
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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 1547024.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
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.
- 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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for radiculopathy of the right lower extremity as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected degenerative changes of the lumbar spine and increased the disability rating for the lumbar spine to 20 percent effective August 18, 2023.
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