The Veteran's cervical and lumbar spine disorders are being remanded for further evaluation as the evidence is insufficient to determine their etiology.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner needs to provide a medical opinion on whether the Veteran's current spinal issues are related to his in-service car accident of November 1972.
- Claimed conditions
- Cervical disorder, Lumbar disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 5, 2019
- Citation
- 19125884
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,987 · Granted: 15% (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 19125884.
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 Veteran's claims for service connection due to duty-to-assist errors and insufficient medical opinions. The issues include PTSD, neck disorder, back disorder, left-hand disorder, bilateral foot disorders, and bilateral knee disorders.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found the Veteran's cervical disorder may be related to service, but additional medical opinions are needed to determine if it is aggravated by his service-connected bilateral knee disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for an initial rating in excess of 10 percent for two hernia residual scars, an initial rating in excess of 40 percent for a lumbar disorder, and ratings in excess of 20, 30, and 40 percent for right lower extremity radiculopathy (femoral nerve), left lower extremity radiculopathy (femoral nerve), and a left upper extremity disability (ulnar nerve) respectively.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted special monthly compensation (SMC) housebound status based on entitlement to a total rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) for his service-connected lumbar disorder.
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