The Veteran's degenerative arthritis of the thoracolumbar spine is granted as service connected.,The Veteran's left and right lower extremity radiculopathy are secondary to his now service-connected degenerative arthritis of the thoracolumbar spine. ,The Veteran's prostate cancer is presumed to be due to herbicide exposure in service, and his erectile dysfunction is also service connected as it is secondary to his prostate cancer.,Service connection for a right knee disability and left knee disability are remanded.
The deciding factor: The evidence is at least in equipoise regarding the Veteran’s claim of entitlement to service connection for a lumbar spine disability, including degenerative arthritis. The private examiner's opinion supports this finding.,The Veteran has bilateral lower extremity sciatica/radiculopathy that is secondary to his now service-connected degenerative arthritis of his thoracolumbar spine.,Prostate cancer is presumed due to herbicide exposure in Thailand and erectile dysfunction is also service connected as it is secondary to prostate cancer. ,Additional development is needed to determine the etiology of the Veteran's bilateral knee disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative arthritis of the thoracolumbar spine, Radiculopathy of the left lower extremity, Radiculopathy of the right lower extremity, Residuals of prostate cancer, Erectile dysfunction
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Gulf War
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 17, 2019
- Citation
- 19146905
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,350 · Granted: 26% (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 19146905.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied extraschedular ratings for the Veteran's service-connected lumbar spine and lower extremity radiculopathy disabilities, as well as a total disability rating based on individual unemployability prior to February 3, 2011.
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The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for residuals of prostate cancer due to VA's failure to notify him of his April 17, 2008, elevated PSA test results and its failure to timely diagnose and properly treat his disease.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for further development due to insufficient evidence and need for additional examinations.
- Granted
The Veteran's September 4, 2024 HLR request was improperly rejected by the AOJ. The Board finds that the request is timely and valid, and reinstates the claims for earlier effective dates and increased ratings.
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