The Veteran's claims for service connection, increased rating, and TDIU are being remanded due to the need for additional medical opinions regarding his lumbar spine disability and compression fracture.
The deciding factor: Further examination is required to determine if the Veteran’s lumbar spine disability is aggravated by his service-connected thoracic spine disability and to assess the severity of his compression fracture.
- Claimed conditions
- degenerative disease of the lumbar spine, compression fracture of the fourth thoracic vertebrae
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 22, 2019
- Citation
- 19179710
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 Veteran's Parkinson's disease, bilateral hearing loss, back disability, dementia, PTSD, and degenerative lumbar spine condition are all granted as service-connected due to in-service exposure to Agent Orange. The cause of death is also attributed to the Veteran's Parkinson's disease.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for increased ratings and service connection were dismissed due to his death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that there are new and material evidence to add the propriety of a ratings reduction for hemorrhoids to the characterization of the claim. The Veteran's representative has also raised a claim for TDIU, which is part of his increased rating claims.
- Granted
The veteran was granted service connection for degenerative disease of the lumbar spine with a 30 percent disability rating, effective September 25, 2006.
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