The Veteran's lumbar spine disability, other than scoliosis, is not service connected as it did not manifest within one year of discharge and there is no evidence that the condition was incurred in or aggravated by service.
The deciding factor: There is no medical evidence showing a link between the Veteran's current lumbar spine disability and his military service.
- Claimed conditions
- scoliosis, multilevel lumbar degenerative changes, status post lumbar disc surgery with left lower extremity radiculopathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 15, 2019
- Citation
- 19186253
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,456 · Granted: 23% (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 19186253.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a back condition, including degenerative disc disease and scoliosis, due to lack of current disability evidence.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to deficiencies in the duty to assist, and will require a VA examination to determine if the Veteran's pre-existing scoliosis and/or additional lumbar vertebra clearly and unmistakably existed prior to service and whether any increase in severity during service was due to natural progression.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for lumbosacral strain, scoliosis and compression fracture of T5 and L2, cervical strain, herniation to C5-6, and narrowing at C3-5, and right knee strain. The decision is based on the Veteran's credible reports of symptoms during active duty.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for increased evaluation of unspecified depressive and anxiety disorder, service connection for scoliosis, and costochondritis are dismissed.
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