The Board has remanded the case due to the need for additional development, including obtaining private medical records and scheduling a VA examination.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's lower back conditions may be related to his service-connected stress fractures but further evaluation is needed to determine their etiology and relationship.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative spine disease, Herniated disk
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 10, 2019
- Citation
- 19192248
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,820 · Granted: 26% (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 19192248.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection of a back condition, finding that his degenerative spine disease is unrelated to active duty service and attributing it instead to naturally occurring age-related changes.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings for RLE and LLE radiculopathy, as well as lumbar discogenic disease and degenerative spine disease, were denied. The case is remanded to obtain additional medical opinions regarding the extent of range of motion loss.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has reopened the Veteran's claim for service connection for a lumbar spine disability due to new and material evidence, but remanded for further development as there are conflicting medical opinions regarding the cause of his disability.
- Granted
The Veteran's cervical spine condition, including degenerative disk disease and a herniated disk, is currently rated at 60 percent since April 25, 2012. The rating reflects the severity of his symptoms, which include limited range of motion and severe pain.
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