The Veteran's claim for increased ratings was denied, and the issues of rating his service-connected conditions were remanded.
The deciding factor: The Veteran’s symptoms did not meet the criteria for a higher rating under any applicable diagnostic code.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative Arthritis of the Left Shoulder, Degenerative Joint Disease of the Lumbar Spine, Generalized Anxiety Disorder with Persistent Depressive Disorder, Left Knee Strain with Degenerative Arthritis, Osteoarthritis of the Right Ankle, Radiculopathy of the Left Lower Extremity, Radiculopathy of the Right Lower Extremity
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 8, 2019
- Citation
- 19110168
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,886 · Granted: 24% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 19110168.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the appeals for discontinuance of TDIU, reduction of disability rating for acquired psychiatric disorder, and reduction of disability rating for radiculopathy of the left lower extremity due to lack of response from the Veteran within the required timeframe.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an increased rating in excess of 20 percent for degenerative joint disease of the lumbar spine is denied.,The Veteran's claim for an initial increased rating in excess of 10 percent for right knee degenerative arthritis is remanded due to inadequate examination report.
- Granted
The reduction of the Veteran's lumbar spine and cervical spine disability ratings from 40% to 20% was improper, and the prior ratings are restored.
- Denied
The Board found that the evidence did not show an actual improvement in the Veteran's conditions, and thus denied the reduction requests for his service-connected disabilities.
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