The Veteran's back disability is remanded for a VA examination to determine its current severity and any associated neurological impairment.
The deciding factor: The April 2014 VA examination did not comply with the requirements in Sharp v. Shulkin, as it did not attempt to elicit information regarding the description of the Veteran’s flare-ups and any additional functional loss suffered during flare-ups.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbar degenerative joint and disc disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 7, 2019
- Citation
- 19144442
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,435 · Granted: 22% (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 19144442.
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's lumbar spine disability and obstructive sleep apnea were not found to warrant increased ratings or service connection, respectively.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim of service connection for lumbar degenerative joint and disc disease, finding that the evidence is in relative equipoise as to whether his current low back disability was related to an injury sustained during active duty.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's low back disability and associated lower extremity radicular symptoms are currently rated at 10 percent prior to June 1, 2014, and 40 percent from July 17, 2014. The Board has found that higher ratings are not warranted for either period.,The Veteran's right and left lower extremity radicular symptoms have been rated at 10 percent prior to March 6, 2013, and 20 percent since then. The Board has also found that higher ratings are not warranted for these periods.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's knee and shoulder disabilities are being remanded for further evaluation due to the need for updated VA examinations.
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