The Board has denied the Veteran's request for a higher rating for his thoracic spine disability and has remanded the issues of SMC based on need for aid and attendance or by reason of being housebound prior to April 1, 2015, entitlement to SMC based on the need for aid and attendance from April 1, 2015, and TDIU.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the Veteran's thoracic spine disability did not meet or approximate criteria for a higher rating under the applicable schedular criteria. The issues of SMC and TDIU were remanded due to procedural errors in the prior adjudications.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative changes of the thoracic spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 25, 2019
- Citation
- 19132155
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,548 · Granted: 31% (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 19132155.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for increased ratings and service connection have been dismissed. The appeal pertaining to the thoracic spine disability is remanded.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient rationale in the VA examiner's opinion regarding the Veteran's service connection claim for a thoracic spine condition. The examiner did not address the Veteran’s in-service diagnosis of L5-S1 herniated disk and his vehicle rollover accident, which are relevant to determining the etiology of his current thoracic spine condition.
- Granted
The Veteran's degenerative changes of the thoracic spine, degenerative disc disease of the lumbosacral spine, and costochondritis are found to be related to his active service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is remanded due to the need for additional VA examinations and the retrieval of outstanding private treatment records.
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