The Veteran's claim for type II diabetes mellitus is granted due to presumed exposure to herbicide agents. The lumbar spine disability claim is remanded as new evidence has been submitted, but a VA examination is needed to determine the etiology of the condition.
The deciding factor: New evidence suggests the Veteran may have been exposed to herbicide agents during service, which could establish presumptive service connection for type II diabetes mellitus. For the lumbar spine disability claim, additional medical evaluation is required as previous opinions are deemed inadequate due to flawed reasoning and factual inaccuracies.
- Claimed conditions
- type II diabetes mellitus, lumbar spine disability
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 24, 2019
- Citation
- 19157664
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 19157664.
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.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for a lumbar spine disability, left lower extremity radiculopathy, and right lower extremity radiculopathy as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected lumbar spine disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for a back disorder, high blood pressure, and type II diabetes mellitus due to errors in development of the claim.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the claims for miscarriage, cervical spine disability, lumbar spine disability, and right elbow disability due to insufficient examination opinions and incomplete service history verification.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the Veteran's claims for service connection for left knee disability, right knee disability, lumbar spine disability, and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) as these issues have been addressed in a separate docket.
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