The Board has remanded the claims for an addendum VA medical opinion to assess the severity of the Veteran's cervical and lumbar spine disabilities prior to August 23, 2011.
The deciding factor: The decision was remanded due to insufficient information provided by the previous VA examiners regarding the Veteran's disability levels prior to August 23, 2011.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative Joint Disease and Degenerative Disc Disease of the Cervical Spine, Degenerative Disc Disease of the Lumbar Spine with Spondylolisthesis and Lumbar Strain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 6, 2018
- Citation
- 18147953
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 18147953.
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's cervical spine disability is currently rated at 30 percent, but the Board finds that a higher rating is not warranted.,The Veteran's radiculopathy of the upper right arm is currently rated at 40 percent, which meets the criteria for this condition.,Bilateral hearing loss does not meet the criteria for a compensable disability rating under VA regulations.,There is no evidence to support service connection for hypertension or radiculopathy of the right leg.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings of PTSD, cervical spine, and lumbar spine disabilities are remanded. Additionally, the TDIU claim is also remanded.
- Granted
The Veteran's appeal was granted, and he is now entitled to a temporary total disability rating for convalescent purposes following surgery for fungus infection of the feet from March 1, 2010 to April 1, 2010.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the effective dates for service connection of the veteran's claimed disabilities cannot be earlier than March 22, 2001 as no claims were received prior to this date.
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