The Board has remanded the claims for increased ratings and TDIU due to service-connected disabilities, specifically cervical spine injury and lumbar spine injury. The case must be remanded for another VA examination in order to comply with Sharp v. Shulkin (2017) regarding the Veteran's cervical spine disability.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the July 2017 remand was not followed, as the December 2017 VA examination did not consider the impact of flare-ups on the Veteran's functional ability and provided an opinion based on the examiner's own limitations rather than the limitation of knowledge in the medical community at large.
- Claimed conditions
- cervical spine injury, lumbar spine injury
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19189579
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,874 · Granted: 33% (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 19189579.
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.
- Dismissed
The appeal concerning the service connection claims for various conditions and initial compensable evaluations for service-connected erectile dysfunction and bilateral hearing loss is dismissed due to the Veteran's death.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for his cervical spine injury, finding that it is related to an in-service injury and resolving any doubt in favor of the Veteran.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for left shoulder and elbow injuries due to a lack of evidence linking them to the Veteran's military service, and remanded the claim for lumbar spine injury for further development.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for the Veteran's injury to his right hand, index finger. The other claims have been dismissed due to withdrawal by the Veteran.
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