The Board has determined that a remand is necessary to address the nature and etiology of the Veteran's lumbar spine degenerative disc disease, as well as her radiculopathy of the left leg. The issues are inextricably intertwined.
The deciding factor: The July 2013 VA examiner opinion was based on an inaccurate factual premise regarding the presence of low back pain in January 2010 and is therefore inadequate for determining the etiology of the Veteran's lumbar spine degenerative disc disease. The issues are remanded to address these matters.
- Claimed conditions
- low back degenerative disc disease, radiculopathy of the left leg
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19122560
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,913 · Granted: 30% (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 19122560.
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 granted service connection for low back degenerative disc disease and remanded the claims for a right knee disability, migraine headaches, neck disability, left shoulder disability, and right shoulder disability.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the issues of entitlement to service connection for tinnitus, radiculopathy of the right and left legs, and right and left knee strains due to a procedural error in docketing the appeal.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for radiculopathy of the left leg, but denied service connection for right and left knee disabilities.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities, including bilateral hearing loss, low back condition, radiculopathy of the left leg, PTSD, and prostate cancer, have prevented him from securing and maintaining substantially gainful employment. The Board has granted a TDIU effective August 19, 2021.
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