The Veteran's claims for a compensable rating for her lumbosacral strain with degenerative arthritis and service connection for an upper back disability or cervical spine disability, to include as secondary to the service-connected lumbosacral strain with degenerative arthritis, are being remanded due to inadequate examinations and development needs.
The deciding factor: The claims require additional medical examination and development to address the adequacy of previous evaluations and determine if there is a current upper back or cervical spine disability related to service or service-connected conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbosacral strain with degenerative arthritis, upper back disability, cervical spine disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- November 5, 2019
- Citation
- 19183789
Veterans Law Judge
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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 19183789.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
What you can do next
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Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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The Board has decided to remand the claims for service connection for cervical and thoracolumbar spine disabilities due to a predecisional duty to assist error. The Veteran's past medical history needs to be considered in the new examination.
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The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for sleep apnea and cervical spine disability due to potential service connection issues related to obesity, service-connected disabilities, and other factors.
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