The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's neck disorder is aggravated by his service-connected degenerative arthritis of the thoracolumbar spine.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not provide a clear opinion on whether the Veteran’s cervical spine disability is aggravated by his service-connected lumbar spine disability, as required for service connection based on aggravation.
- Claimed conditions
- neck disorder, degenerative arthritis of the thoracolumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 11, 2019
- Citation
- 19153517
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,861 · Granted: 27% (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 19153517.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his appeal before the Board could make a decision on his service connection claims.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) due to service-connected disabilities, finding that his physical limitations could be accommodated by sedentary employment.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for service-connected tinnitus was denied as the evidence did not show entitlement prior to September 6, 2019.,Service connection for a neck disorder and bilateral hearing loss were both denied because there is no current disability found in the record.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for service connection of sleep apnea, headaches, and a neck disorder have been dismissed as the Veteran withdrew his appeal.
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