The Board has reopened the Veteran's claim for service connection for lumbar spine degenerative disc disease and remanded both issues of service connection. The rating for bilateral pes planus, plantar fasciitis, and bilateral subtalar degenerative arthritis is also being remanded.
The deciding factor: New evidence received since the last denial has raised a reasonable possibility of substantiating the claim of lumbar spine degenerative disc disease. However, further development is needed to determine if the Veteran's current low back disability is related to his service-connected bilateral foot disabilities and whether it is caused or aggravated by them.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbar spine degenerative disc disease
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 30, 2019
- Citation
- 19133546
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 remands the claims for a higher rating in excess of the current ratings for various musculoskeletal conditions.
- Partly granted
The Board denied a compensable evaluation for hypertension and granted an increased rating of 20 percent for lumbar spine degenerative disc disease from April 13, 2022. The effective date for the right lower extremity radiculopathy was also granted as May 10, 2016.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an effective date prior to September 20, 2018, for the award of service connection for lumbar spine degenerative disc disease.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for further development, including obtaining a retrospective medical opinion regarding the severity of the Veteran's service-connected conditions without the use of pain medication and securing the credentials of the VA examiners.
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