The Veteran's claims for effective dates earlier than May 25, 2016, for the grant of service connection and separate ratings for right and left lower extremity radiculopathy have been denied as there is no factual evidence to support an earlier effective date.
The deciding factor: There was no objective confirmation that the Veteran's right and left lower extremity radiculopathy were a neurological manifestation of his service-connected lumbar spinal stenosis prior to May 25, 2016.
- Claimed conditions
- Right Lower Extremity Radiculopathy, Left Lower Extremity Radiculopathy
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 10, 2019
- Citation
- 19151584
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection, except for a 20 percent rating for lumbosacral strain.
- Partly granted
The Board denied increased ratings for the Veteran's service-connected bilateral hearing loss, right lower extremity radiculopathy, and facial scars, status post excision of cyst of left and right jaw. However, it granted an initial 40% rating for right lower extremity radiculopathy from June 3, 2024.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed all issues as a matter of law due to a procedural defect in the Veteran's February 2023 VA Form 10182s, which attempted to concurrently elect multiple review options.
- Denied
The appeal regarding the propriety of the award of attorney fees to H.B. was denied, while the issue of reasonableness of the fee award is being remanded for further review.
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