The Board has restored a 40% evaluation for the Veteran's service-connected thoracolumbar spine disability effective July 1, 2015. The case is remanded due to issues with entitlement to TDIU.
The deciding factor: The RO reduced the evaluation from 40% to 20%, but failed to provide proper procedural safeguards as required by VA regulations.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative disc disease and degenerative joint disease of the thoracolumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- March 7, 2019
- Citation
- 19116371
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,612 · Granted: 16% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 19116371.
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
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's whole-body joint pain was not shown as chronic in service and did not manifest to a compensable degree within the applicable presumptive period; continuity of symptomatology is not established; and the disability is not secondary to service-connected bilateral lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, or otherwise etiologically related to an in-service injury or disease.,The Veteran's bilateral cataracts are not secondary to service-connected type II diabetes mellitus, and are not otherwise related to an in-service injury or disease.,The Veteran's degenerative disc disease and degenerative joint disease of the thoracolumbar spine are not secondary to service-connected type II diabetes mellitus or bilateral lower extremity peripheral neuropathy; was not shown as chronic in service and did not manifest to a compensable degree within the applicable presumptive period; continuity of symptomatology is not established; and the disability is not otherwise etiologically related to an in-service injury or disease.,The Veteran's hypertension is not secondary to service-connected posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or type II diabetes mellitus, and is not otherwise related to an in-service injury or disease, to include exposure to herbicide agents.
- Whole decision: 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.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's service-connected musculoligamentous strain, right knee, is currently rated at 10 percent and the Board finds that a higher rating is not warranted.
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