The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to incomplete records and a need for updated VA examinations.
The deciding factor: Incomplete medical records have been identified, necessitating their acquisition and review by VA examiners.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative disc disease (DDD) of the thoracolumbar spine, Acquired psychiatric disorder, to include depressive disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19121556
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,963 · Granted: 32% (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 19121556.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection due to incomplete records and inadequate VA opinions. The Veteran's thoracolumbar spine disorder, psychiatric disorder (including PTSD), and hypertension are all being reviewed.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include depressive disorder, as the evidence did not support a finding that the Veteran's condition began during active service or was otherwise related to an in-service injury.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include depressive disorder. The other claims were remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board granted restoration of the 50 percent rating for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include depressive disorder, as the reduction in rating was improper.
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