The Board denied the Veteran's claim to reopen his service connection for degenerative disk disease of the lumbar spine, finding that new and material evidence was not received.,The Board also denied the Veteran's claim to reopen his service connection for a left knee disorder, including medial meniscal tear, degenerative type, finding that new and material evidence was not received.
The deciding factor: The newly submitted evidence does not provide competent and probative evidence that the Veteran’s degenerative disk disease of the lumbar spine is linked to an incident in service.,The newly submitted evidence does not provide competent and probative evidence that the Veteran's left knee disorder, including medial meniscal tear, degenerative type, is linked to an incident in service.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative disk disease of the lumbar spine, Left knee disorder, including medial meniscal tear, degenerative type
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 4, 2019
- Citation
- 19125359
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 940 · Granted: 21% (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 19125359.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's degenerative disk disease of the lumbar spine is currently rated at 20 percent, and the Board has granted a higher rating to 40 percent.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a rating in excess of 20 percent for lumbar spine disability to schedule a VA examination to determine if the Veteran has intervertebral disc syndrome (IVDS) and, if so, whether he has required bed rest prescribed by a physician during any 12-month period.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected low back disability was granted a 40 percent evaluation from April 15, 2015, to April 7, 2016, and from June 1, 2016, to the present. The RO also increased his evaluations for radiculopathy affecting the left sciatic nerve, right sciatic nerve, left femoral nerve, and right femoral nerve.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for an effective date prior to October 31, 2018, for the award of service connection for a lumbar spine disability was denied. The earliest possible effective date is October 31, 2018.
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