The Board has dismissed the Veteran's appeals for cervical spine disability and neurological disabilities of the right and left upper extremities. The Board granted service connection for a lumbar spine disability, to include degenerative disc disease (DDD), on an aggravation basis. Service connection was also granted for radiculopathy of the right and left lower extremities secondary to the Veteran's service-connected DDD.
The deciding factor: The evidence is at least in equipoise as to whether the Veteran’s currently diagnosed radiculopathy of the right and left lower extremities are caused by his service-connected lumbar spine disability (DDD).
- Claimed conditions
- cervical spine disability, neurological symptoms of the right upper extremity, neurological symptoms of the left upper extremity, lumbar spine disability (DDD), raticulopathy of the right lower extremity, raticulopathy of the left lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19189031
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,810 · 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 19189031.
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the claims of service connection for cervical spine and skin rash disabilities, finding that there is no evidence linking these conditions to active military service.
- 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.
- Remanded (sent back)
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
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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