The Board has remanded the Veteran's claim of service connection for chronic low back pain due to inadequate consideration of his reported history and lack of corroborating evidence in the VA examination. The case is now pending with instructions to attempt verification of the Veteran’s medical discharge procedure and schedule him for a new VA examination.
The deciding factor: The opinion provided by the VA examiner did not adequately consider the Veteran's reported history of back symptoms since service, which could have supported a finding of service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic low back pain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 23, 2019
- Citation
- 19105311
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.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and remanded claims for chronic low back pain, upper back pain, right hand disability, left hand disability, headaches, and right knee disability.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for multiple disabilities, including various musculoskeletal conditions and mental health disorders.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and remanded the claims for other conditions due to insufficient evidence.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew the appeal for service connection for chronic back pain, right lower extremity radiculopathy, and a left knee disability secondary to the service-connected right knee patellofemoral syndrome.
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