The Board found no evidence to support a finding that the Veteran's current low back disability had its onset in service or is otherwise related to active duty, including his claimed in-service back injury.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner determined that the low back disability is less likely as not related to active service due to lack of contemporaneous medical records indicating chronic symptoms during service and no evidence suggesting a nexus between current disability and service.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative disc disease of the lumbar sacral spine, Intervertebral disc syndrome of the sciatic nerve (bilateral S1), Degenerative spondylolisthesis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 1, 2015
- Citation
- 1550286
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 1550286.
What this means for you
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's appeals for increased ratings and service connection were denied. His back disability is rated at 40 percent, his sleep disorder was not found to be related to service or secondary to a service-connected condition, and his bilateral knee disorder was also not found to be related to service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an increased rating for his service-connected degenerative disc disease of the lumbar sacral spine is being remanded due to a lack of recent VA examination and outstanding medical records.
- Granted
The Veteran's degenerative disc disease of the lumbar sacral spine was granted service connection with an initial rating of 10 percent effective March 31, 1993.
- 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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