The Veteran's lumbar spine disability and related radiculopathy conditions are remanded for further evaluation due to the need for a new VA examination.
The deciding factor: The current evidence of record is insufficient to determine the severity of the Veteran's service-connected disabilities, necessitating additional evaluations.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine with herniated nucleus pulposus, Posterior and anterior lumbar interbody fusion and plating at L3-L5 with spinal stenosis associated with Klippel-Feil syndrome with post-operative fusion, C3 through C7 with limitation of motion and history of radiculopathy (also claimed as posterior cervical laminectomy and disc decompression of C2 to C7)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 29, 2019
- Citation
- 19133350
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,446 · 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 19133350.
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 Veteran's claims for increased ratings for degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine with herniated nucleus pulposus, and bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy are being remanded due to insufficient evidence in his claims file.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for increased ratings due to worsening of his lumbar spine and lower extremity conditions.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection were denied. The reduction in rating from 40 percent to 20 percent was also denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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