The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for the award of a dependency allowance has been withdrawn. The appeal for service connection for cervical spine degenerative disc disease, IVDS and strain is granted. Restoration of the 40 percent rating for left lower extremity radiculopathy is granted.
The deciding factor: New evidence received since the prior denial supports the Veteran's claim that his current cervical spine disability is related to service or a service-connected condition.
- Claimed conditions
- Cervical Spine Degenerative Disc Disease, Left Lower Extremity Radiculopathy
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 40%
- Decision date
- November 21, 2019
- Citation
- 19187979
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,435 · Granted: 22% (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 19187979.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for higher ratings for right and left lower extremity radiculopathy are being remanded due to the need for a new VA examination to assess the current severity of his condition, without considering the ameliorative effects of any medication he uses.
- Granted
The Veteran's bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy has been granted a 30 percent disability rating since November 29, 2021.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's erectile dysfunction is likely due to his service-connected lumbar spine and radiculopathy conditions, with tramadol use possibly causing the condition by October 25, 2012. The effective date for ED will be remanded.,Due to the inextricably intertwined nature of the issues, including the need to determine if tramadol caused ED prior to August 30, 2013, the SMC issue is also remanded.
- Granted
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